(26) France-Netherlands

Highlights

Report

In a penalty series following a scoreless game, nine players scored and only Clarence Seedorf missed; Les Blues advanced to the semifinals of Euro'96. After four hours play on the first day of the knockout stages no goals were scored, and while this match wasn't terrible, it is fair to say that the quarterfinal between France and the Netherlands never really 'caught fire'. The same could also be said of the Spanish referee in charge, Antonio Lopez Nieto. This match was played in the same stadium as the group stage tie he refereed strongly eight days prior, but this time Spaniard never really seemed settled. But: it was with normal time running out that he committed what was this performance's cardinal sin, and meant that both of the first two losing quarterfinalists could justifiably point the finger of blame toward officials.

The clip of the situation in question features in the second half of the analysis parts below. 

1. 

Antonio Lopez Nieto never looked fully settled in the match, and this became apparent from the opening stages. In the sixth minute, Deschamps was mandatorily cautioned for a tactical foul but Lopez Nieto had missed a clear foul for France in the attack before (and missed another clear, this time Thuram on Cocu, foul in 11'). Two minutes later he whistled back a freekick to be retaken from the correct position but the Netherlands took the kick anyway, and the Spanish referee allowed them to do so. In the fifteenth minute, De Kock took out Loko from behind with a (very likely) reckless tackle. Lopez Nieto played advantage but De Kock had fortune that Apolloni didn't - the referee didn't come back and caution the Dutchman when play stopped. After an inauspicious start from the technical perspective, the Spanish referee managed to 'stabilise' his refereeing for the rest of the match - with the exception of the last 10min of normal time, where the decisions by the referee felt very unpredictable and sometimes were clearly wrong. Finally, the referee might have sent off Bogarde at 112' but in my opinion not showing a second yellow was right.

The second dynamic to mention is the difference in 'the referee's contribution to the game as a whole', which can be contrasted with the Czech-Italy match quite well. In the group encounter, the referee from Malaga was for most of the game a fairly 'peripheral' figure amidst a very exciting match. This stands apart from this quarterfinal, where it did feel a little bit like the referee was at 'war' with the football played, especially from the start of the second half onwards. This feeling came about mostly for two reasons: a) the number of foot-up calls made by Lopez Nieto, who in not 'feeling' the match, slightly defaulted to a strict approach in this regard; b) the dynamics of the match, with both teams building up slowly from the back. Lopez Nieto was thus often positioned ahead of the play when making his decisions, and it is very difficult to make accurate calls when this is the case! The most extreme example of this in the match, and serves as a good illustrative/educational example generally, was the following incident.

2.

The reason for themetically structuring the report like this was to underline that this (huge, match-deciding!) mistake was mostly a consequence of what was already touched upon above; 'it wasn't Lopez Nieto's day'. However, some specific technical thoughts: usually, before having to make a big decision in the game (penalty area or red card), you can 'charge up' for the incident and psyche yourself up to make it - this scene instead came almost totally by surprise, Desailly seemingly panicking from what appeared a 'nothing' cross. Lopez Nieto himself had a very square angle to the penalty area line, a perfect position you say(!), just like a linesman stood on the goalline - but remember, the assistant is always waiting to make that call, knowing what he needs to look for. Because the referee was not ready to make the snapshot at the moment of the handball, and Desailly moves outside the box, he gets into a panic and starts looking out to Giraldez Carrasco, who can't really help given that the second-last defender was much deeper than the penalty area line. It seems that Lopez Nieto 'justifies' his decision by pointing out towards the linesman. The replay gives no scope for doubt - the Netherlands should have been awarded a penalty.

Conclusion.

If there was a specific match that raised to UEFA the point that flying officials to-and-fro Europe throughout June-96 was better avoided, it was probably this: Lopez Nieto never really seemed to 'get his eye in', which would otherwise have been illogical given that this match was played at a much lower tempo to the Czech-Italy game and was, in theory, easier. The performance would have been a small negative mark but nothing especially significant had the referee made the correct decision in the Desailly incident. The handball occured in the 83rd minute and the Dutch went on to lose on penalties; this is an archetypal example of the 'clear match error' concept. The image below seems to sum it rather well. For UEFA, the quarterfinals of Euro'96 had started rather disasterously indeed.

Embed from Getty Images

Antonio Lopez Nieto's performance in this game was rejected by UEFA.

Matchsheet

Antonio López Nieto - 5 Victoriano Giráldez Carrasco - 7 Manuel López Fernández - 6 Juan Ansuátegui Roca (assessor: ridden)	France 0-0 Netherlands (aet, Fra win 5-4 in a penalty competition) Sat 22June 630pm, Liverpool Quarterfinal
Fra  Deschamps (6') - SPA (Holding)  Karembeu (48') - DtR (not retreating)	Ned  De Kock (68') - SPA (Tackle)  Kluivert (90') - Aggressive Behaviour  Bogarde (90') - Tackle