After every World Cup since the 1966 World Cup in England, Fifa has produced a technical report summarising the different parts of the tournament. Today Fifa published their report from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Since 1998 Fifa has included a section about the refereeing efforts made throughout the tournament. Head of refereeing for Fifa, José María Garcia-Aranda Encinar, has written this year’s summary.
The report shows that Fifa overall is pleased with the refereeing efforts. A number of aspects are presented in a positive tone. This includes the overall fitness of the refereeing teams, the disciplinary control, and high rate of accuracy in the decision making. The report also highlights Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov. The 33-year-old impressed the world with his officiating in the opening match of the tournament, and Fifa gave him a total of five appointments during the month.
However, Fifa is adamant that improvements are possible. The majority of decisions were correct, but Fifa points out that a number of incidents were wrongly interpreted. This includes three goals given incorrectly, two goals incorrectly disallowed for offside, one goal-line incident incorrectly judged, and five penalties not awarded.
While the number of cards shown during the tournament was lower than the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the final match of the tournament will be remembered for its high amount of cautions. The match, refereed by Englishman Howard Webb, broke the previous record of six yellow cards from the 1986 World Cup final. The match in Johannesburg ended on 14 yellow cards, including one second yellow.
145 goals allowed, 142 correctly given
13 goals correctly disallowed for offside
2 goals incorrectly disallowed for offside
663 shots on goal, 5 goal-line incidents
4 goal-line incidents judged correctly
15 correctly given penalties
5 penalties incorrectly not given
3.82 yellow cards per match
0.27 red cards per match
Source: 2010 FIFA World Cup Technical Report (pdf)
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