(1) England-Switerland

 

Highlights

Report

Looking back, Euro 1996 in England was probably a cultural apogee for 'new, old Britain' (or Cool Britannia as it was popularly known). Indeed: if one could level the charge of aridness at how the first-ever sixteen team European Football Championship played out, then certainly the England games at Wembley would be excluded from that judgement. Of the five 'Three Lions' matches however, the opening fixture of the tournament against Switzerland is surely the most irrelevant culturally - and probably the most boring too. The Swiss team, coached by the Portuguese manager who led Porto to 1987 European Cup glory against Bayern, mostly sat back and waited for England to attack onto them. In the first half, they did; in the second, they did not. A score draw was ultimately a fair result.

One of the leading mid-1990s referees, Manuel Diaz Vega from Spain, was chosen to referee the opening game of the tournament. Diaz Vega also had charge of the Champions League final a few weeks prior (a match he did a decent job in), and was for my money a shrewd UEFA choice for the refereeing curtain raiser at the Euro - just like Brizio Carter was two years earlier, the Spaniard was a guy on the pitch who displayed a severe character and stood for authority on the field of play, setting the tone for the championship ahead.

The game played as it was, it didn't offer a degree of difficulty above 'normal', and Diaz Vega reffed it well. English media were dissatisfied at the performance of their team, but would also for what it is worth have judged the referee as 'mediocre'. I believe they'd have had three main complaints:

1)  "The penalty awarded against Stuart Pearce for handball was harsh"

English handball; the more things change, the more they stay the same and all that. Diaz Vega was optimally positioned to award Switzerland a penalty with eight minutes left on the clock, and did so without hesitation. It is important not to get locked into mindset of nowadays, but the idea that this penalty was even somewhat dubious back then is wrong. Pearce had his arm above his head, moved his arm toward the ball, and was even able to bring the football under his control as a consequence of the 'handplay'.

A correct ruling, in the game's only big incident of note for the referee.

2)  "The Swiss right-fullback should have been booked for hauling back McManaman"

Yes, Johan Vogel (who would eight years later be sent off by Lucilio Batista on a Euro match one) should have collected the tournament's opening yellow card for a very flagrant shirt tug on Steve McManaman. Vogel's holding of exciting McManaman's long sleeve as he was about the jinx past the Swiss exemplified the word 'cynicism' - but Diaz Vega only issued a verbal warning to the defender. A fairly objective lapse from the referee, which is a pretty significant negative marker against the performance (the other biggest negative also, as it happened, involved Vogel). 

Otherwise, the Spaniard correctly issued cards as required - six yellows, the first of them having happened in the World Cup two years later, would have been judged as an automatic red. Any other errors in the regard of disciplinary were discrete, and likely went unnoticed by anybody back then.

3)  "The Spanish referee was too fussy"

The image linked to is not from this game, but rather that Champions League final, and in my view it illustrates very well Diaz Vega's way of refereeing matches: he believed earnestly in his decisions, and stood firm behind them. I think this would have been what irked English viewers - the Spaniard's calls didn't impede the game flow (his technical accuracy was pretty high infact), so I would quite strongly disagree describing this performance as "fussy". He diligently followed play and had quite a high degree of accuracy in foul recognition, but his positioning was mostly limited to the centre of the field.

On the UEFA system of modern times, the score '8,3' is ideal for Manuel Diaz Vega's performance - good, but could have been a little better. Finally: Joaquin Olmos Gonzalez made a good sharp call, perfectly placed despite following the game with the flag in right-hand (as most did back then), in calling the game's opening goal onside. A strong impression left by both linesmen; indeed I didn't notice even one mistake.

Matchsheet

Manuel Díaz Vega - 7 Joaquín Olmos González - 7 Fernando Tresaco Gracia - 7 José María García-Aranda (assessor: marko)	England 1-1 Switzerland Sat 8June 3pm, London Group Stage
Eng  G. Neville (26') - Tackle  Adams (80') - Tackle	Sui  Vogel (28') - Tackle  Quentin (43') - Tackle  Grassi (84') - LoR (Holding)  Vega (89') - SPA (Tackle)