(4) Denmark-Portugal
Highlights
Report
Good game, played in sporting spirit between reigning champions Denmark and tournament dark horses Portugal which finished one-each and left both sides surely quite content. A match focused on football, a balmy Sunday evening in Sheffield - this must have constituted a pleasant fixture on which Mario van der Ende fulfilled his Euro'96 group stage tie. Van der Ende's stock was very high in UEFA at the time: they were more-or-less elated with the way he handled that season's most dramatic Champions League tie (and one of the best 1990s CL games), the quarterfinal between Juventus and Real Madrid in Turin.
In that sense, perhaps Mario van der Ende slightly dropped the ball in this game - his performance was good, but not outstanding. We can walk through the performance disciplinarily:
-> At first, Van der Ende started excellently. He immediately cautioned Paulinho Santos for a deliberate, tactical trip from behind on Michael Laudrup in midfield with only nine minutes on the clock. The incident was perfectly watched by the Dutch ref, who made a great (and brave) call. He was then also right to book Risager for a very clear tactical foul that everyone could agree on.
-> The next caution issued, in the time shortly after Denmark had scored the opening goal of the game, was more doubtful. Oceano went in foot-up on Henrik Larsen on the edge of the Denmark box, and was immediately booked by the referee from the Netherlands. Strictly punishing these sorts of offences (with at least indirect freekicks) a calling card of continental referees until about ten years ago, but this booking was simply rather harsh; the Portuguese defender's foul was careless. This also leads to another point: Van der Ende's style in this period (1996), when he was strictly issuing sanctions as directed by UEFA, would do so in the way that said 'I'm not afraid to book you' by immediately showing the yellow card in a confident and authoritive way. This was also a feature in his performance during the thrilling Juventus-Real game spoken about earlier. Doing it differently, perhaps he could have used bookings in a way that would have been able to extinguish a little more tension from the game. Furthermore, this yellow card served to make the atmosphere on the pitch a bit hotter, as the players became unsure of what the ref would do next.
-> At first, Van der Ende started excellently. He immediately cautioned Paulinho Santos for a deliberate, tactical trip from behind on Michael Laudrup in midfield with only nine minutes on the clock. The incident was perfectly watched by the Dutch ref, who made a great (and brave) call. He was then also right to book Risager for a very clear tactical foul that everyone could agree on.
-> The next caution issued, in the time shortly after Denmark had scored the opening goal of the game, was more doubtful. Oceano went in foot-up on Henrik Larsen on the edge of the Denmark box, and was immediately booked by the referee from the Netherlands. Strictly punishing these sorts of offences (with at least indirect freekicks) a calling card of continental referees until about ten years ago, but this booking was simply rather harsh; the Portuguese defender's foul was careless. This also leads to another point: Van der Ende's style in this period (1996), when he was strictly issuing sanctions as directed by UEFA, would do so in the way that said 'I'm not afraid to book you' by immediately showing the yellow card in a confident and authoritive way. This was also a feature in his performance during the thrilling Juventus-Real game spoken about earlier. Doing it differently, perhaps he could have used bookings in a way that would have been able to extinguish a little more tension from the game. Furthermore, this yellow card served to make the atmosphere on the pitch a bit hotter, as the players became unsure of what the ref would do next.
-> Helveg was the next player booked, for SPA. From this point on, the threshold for cautions in the first half became a bit trickier, and there was even a single incident where it seemed like Van der Ende made a play on call (from a borderline careless-reckless sliding tackle) in order to not have show a yellow card. Finally in the first half, a straight red card may even have been shown. Out of kilter with the spirit of the match, Ricardo Sa Pinto committed a 'tackle as an attack' on Michael Laudrup, totally taking the Denmark attacker out of the play (clip). Sa Pinto had been irritated by an earlier play on call. Due to the nature of the game, it wasn't 'necessary' to have shown any more than a yellow card.
-> The second half was calmer in terms of incidents. Van der Ende issued two very good bookings: one for a tactical foul off-the-ball (very likely reported by a teammate, which would have earned plus marks as UEFA stressed for close co-operation between referee/linesman), the second for a simulation when Joao Pinto needlessly went down in the box trying to win his team a penalty.
All told, it was a good but not perfect performance by the Dutch crew (both linesmen impressed me too). I would have rated Mario van der Ende's performance as '8,3'. Van der Ende was one of the candidates to handle further matches in the competition - there will be more words on that later in the blog as the tournament progresses.
All told, it was a good but not perfect performance by the Dutch crew (both linesmen impressed me too). I would have rated Mario van der Ende's performance as '8,3'. Van der Ende was one of the candidates to handle further matches in the competition - there will be more words on that later in the blog as the tournament progresses.
Matchsheet
| Mario van der Ende - 7 Jan Dolstra - 7 Berend Talens - 7 René Temmink (assessor: soriano) | Denmark 1-1 Portugal Sun 9June 730pm, Sheffield Group Stage |
Den  Risager (14') - SPA (Blocking) Helveg (30') - SPA (Challenge) | Por P. Santos (9') - Challenge Oceano (24') - Challenge Sá Pinto (41') - Tackle P. Sousa (58') - SPA (Holding) J. Pinto (73') - Simulation |
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