(18) Romania-Spain

 

Highlights

Report

Before Cakir, there was Cakar - Euro96's second youngest referee (33yo; only Frisk's senior by 6mnths), Ahmet Cakar became the first Turkish official to work at a big tournament for sixteen years when he took charge of the match between Romania (already eliminated) and Spain, who had to win in order to progress to the quarterfinals; courtesy of a winning goal by Guillermo Amor with four minutes left, the Spanish side won two-one and did advance. Cakar did a solid job in the game overall -- if he was a slightly 'isolated' figure as referee then he managed to compensate it with very good card choices -- but events in the build-up to two of the game's three goals implicate the referee's decision-making (0-1; 1-1; 1-2). As a consequence, I would deem the refereeing of this (important but not hugely difficult) game as only satisfactory.

Analysis: If the missed foul on Amavisca before the equaliser can be categorised as 'stuff that happens' (though it happened a little too often in this match, but Cakar's decisions were still mostly quite good), then the episode that came before the decisive winning goal is more censurable. Kiko, seemingly annoyed at having been slightly held by him, turns around to maximise force and strikes out at the defender Prodan in the ribs. It is hard to be completely sure without replays, but at the very least it seems a missed foul (and card; Kiko already booked in the first half). Cakar also ought to have stopped the game for injury, having been given the chance to do that as the initial 'wave' of the attack had broken down.

Now a polemic television analyst and actor, Cakar retired from active refereeing duties in January/1998, owing to concerns about his fitness. As a closing comment, I would say that his later career does not do justice to both his international palmares, and his capable ability as a referee on the field of play.

Matchsheet

Ahmet Çakar - 6 Akif Uğurdur - 6 Turgay Güdü - 7 Oğuz Sarvan (assessor: björck)	Romania 1-2 Spain Tues 18June 430pm, Leeds Group Stage
Rou  Popescu (14') - Challenge  Hagi (21') - Dissent  Ilie (47') - Challenge  Gâlcă (77') - Tackle	Esp  Kiko (36') - Challenge  Nadal (59') - Tackle