(15) Russia-Germany
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Highlights
Report
After the dramatic events of three days prior for the Denmark refereeing fraternity, Russia-Germany was more sonorous and indeed much calmer game for Kim Milton Nielsen, won nil-three by 'Die Mannschaft' when the match was scoreless at halftime. Nielsen and Peter Mikkelsen had both qualified as local referees in the same year (1975; the story is that it was the same referees course?) and having been in Mikkelsen's shadow, the six-foot-four Dane had steadily built a very impressive international career: for instance when the four UEFA finals in 1994 were designated all to referees not selected by FIFA for the World Cup, Nielsen at age thirty-three took charge of the Salzburg-Inter first leg in Vienna, and did a good job (he reduced the Italians, quite rightly, to ten men early in the second half). The achievement for Denmark in having two Euro'96 refs should not be understated either: only four big European powers and politically-strong Sweden joined them in so doing. I wonder how much at the time people realised that this week in June/1996 would constitute a changing of the guard in Danish referees.
Nielsen, so outstanding in the World Cup two years later, did fine in this match. But unlike in France, he never seemed fully settled and probably the proscriptive guidelines didn't really suit his style (compare to, say, Mottram or Muhmenthaler whom I felt they much helped). Some words on the performance:
Key Match Incident: The key episode was correctly solved by the Danish referee, he immediately sent off Yuri Kovtun for a wild tackle on Dieter Eilts (clip) with about twenty minutes of the game left. The match turned on this rash, dangerous assault by Kovtun; Nielsen should be praised for his quick and decisive call.
Managing the Game: Somehow, it felt to me like Kim Milton Nielsen let the guidelines by UEFA 'get into his head' a bit and he never really seemed that secure and consistent in his decisions. A subtly chaotic first ten minutes (under the heading 'maximising the effective playing time') and rather haphazard line for reckless were features of the first half. The second was a bit more assured by the Dane. To be clear, it was far from being anything disasterous, but just a little short of assessing the performance as 'good'.
Linesmen: If Igor Kolyvanov was booked for kicking the ball in the direction of the assistant in the first game, he may well have been tempted to repeat the feat in this - these decisions were very hard for the 1990s, but in the first half Russia were denied a one-on-one chance by the wrong flag of WC94-semifinal linesman Carl-Johan Christensen, and in the second Torben Siersen was very likely incorrect when he flagged down another strong goal-chance; in the latter episode, one can't be 100% sure with the pictures.
Nielsen, so outstanding in the World Cup two years later, did fine in this match. But unlike in France, he never seemed fully settled and probably the proscriptive guidelines didn't really suit his style (compare to, say, Mottram or Muhmenthaler whom I felt they much helped). Some words on the performance:
Key Match Incident: The key episode was correctly solved by the Danish referee, he immediately sent off Yuri Kovtun for a wild tackle on Dieter Eilts (clip) with about twenty minutes of the game left. The match turned on this rash, dangerous assault by Kovtun; Nielsen should be praised for his quick and decisive call.
Managing the Game: Somehow, it felt to me like Kim Milton Nielsen let the guidelines by UEFA 'get into his head' a bit and he never really seemed that secure and consistent in his decisions. A subtly chaotic first ten minutes (under the heading 'maximising the effective playing time') and rather haphazard line for reckless were features of the first half. The second was a bit more assured by the Dane. To be clear, it was far from being anything disasterous, but just a little short of assessing the performance as 'good'.
Linesmen: If Igor Kolyvanov was booked for kicking the ball in the direction of the assistant in the first game, he may well have been tempted to repeat the feat in this - these decisions were very hard for the 1990s, but in the first half Russia were denied a one-on-one chance by the wrong flag of WC94-semifinal linesman Carl-Johan Christensen, and in the second Torben Siersen was very likely incorrect when he flagged down another strong goal-chance; in the latter episode, one can't be 100% sure with the pictures.
Matchsheet
| Kim Milton Nielsen - 6 Carl-Johan Christensen - 6 Torben Siersen - 7 Lars Gerner (assessor: ponnet) | Russia 0-3 Germany Sun 16June 3pm, Manchester Group Stage |
Rus  Kančelskis (12') - DtR (not retreating) Onopko (30') - Tackle Kovtun (71') - SFP (Tackle) | Ger Babbel (16') - SPA (Challenge) Bierhoff (32') - Tackle |
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