In Focus: Match 13 - Argentina vs. Soviet Union, Erik Fredriksson
Argentina and the Soviet Union would play each other for their second match of Italia '90 teetering on the brink of a potential last-placed finish in Group B, and hence a humiliating elimination; this was very early in the tournament for a de facto knockout tie between heavyweight nations indeed.
A big refereeing assignment for whomever official would get it, and FIFA selected one of their most experienced officials - three-time World Cup attendee Erik Fredriksson to be the referee. Fredriksson had a superb game, all save for one infamous incident - and it immediately terminated his tournament.
Refereeing Highlights
Preface
While the Soviet Union's defeat to Romania was a quite significant upset, it paled into insignificance compared with Cameroon's humbling of defending champions Argentina in the tournament opener. These defeats heaped pressure onto both the Soviets and Argentina, scathing media coverage to boot, and the possibility of premature elimination for them both became rather real indeed.Both teams had complaints with the officials in their first matches (though Argentina's claim that Vautrot was too lenient was laughed off at the time - not so much nowadays!), so the selection of who would take charge of this tie became quite a delicate matter. Ultimately, FIFA turned to Sweden's Erik Fredriksson, veteran of both Spain 1982 and Mexico 1986 (running the line in the final at the latter), to officiate.
FIFA having prioritised lingual uniformity much more at this World Cup than previously, choosing Brazilian (José Ramiz Wright) and Syrian (Jamal Al-Sharif) linesmen to join the Swede, immediately speaks to how delicately FIFA had to craft a trio which was acceptable to both the Argentine and Soviet side. Completing the team as reserve referee was Rosario Lo Bello of the Italian support squad.
The Big Decision
In the thirteenth minute of the thirteenth game of the tournament, Erik Fredriksson was to face the incident that would curse and curtail his whole World Cup. Diego had gotten away with it again - repeat offender Maradona's goal-saving handling going undetected by the referee. A clear mistake, and one which would probably changed the game decisively (and maybe the whole tournament). Fredriksson should certainly have seen it, but I believe the Swede did get a bit unlucky here [timestamp].
Undoubtedly, Erik Fredriksson should have seen and then consequently penalised Diego Maradona's very blatant handling which denied the Soviet Union a quite probable goal (do you think Sergio Goycochea, newly subbed on after Nery Pumpido had broken his leg, would have saved the header?). Not doing so was, relatively speaking, a quite cataclysmic mistake, and worthy of instant rejection come-what-may.
I guess two things irked people most - 1) that Maradona had got away with it again, and, 2) being astounded as to how a referee with a visibly free line-of-sight could not detect such a blatant offence. To be honest, I think this is actually one of the incidents that has the refereeing of World Cup 1990 popularly seen as a bit of a 'joke' for people looking back, painting the referees in an unfairly amateurish light.
Undoubtedly, Erik Fredriksson should have seen and then consequently penalised Diego Maradona's very blatant handling which denied the Soviet Union a quite probable goal (do you think Sergio Goycochea, newly subbed on after Nery Pumpido had broken his leg, would have saved the header?). Not doing so was, relatively speaking, a quite cataclysmic mistake, and worthy of instant rejection come-what-may.
I guess two things irked people most - 1) that Maradona had got away with it again, and, 2) being astounded as to how a referee with a visibly free line-of-sight could not detect such a blatant offence. To be honest, I think this is actually one of the incidents that has the refereeing of World Cup 1990 popularly seen as a bit of a 'joke' for people looking back, painting the referees in an unfairly amateurish light.
Erik Fredriksson chiefly fell victim to the corner positioning of the day, which made detecting Maradona's transgression much more difficult than it needed to be. If the Swede was standing where referees do today from corners, more-or-less just inside the penalty area on the non-linesman side, he would have been looking into and not at the incident, and I'm sure he would have solved it correctly.
Standing behind the goal is, to me at least, so obviously a bad move. It limits your vision field significantly, and forces you to see everything from the reverse angle to what you normally would in open play. A large part of perceiving incidents is everything which happens 'before' the incident itself - seeing the ball flying towards goal and Maradona on the line, it would be basically impossible to miss his handball.
Standing behind the goal is, to me at least, so obviously a bad move. It limits your vision field significantly, and forces you to see everything from the reverse angle to what you normally would in open play. A large part of perceiving incidents is everything which happens 'before' the incident itself - seeing the ball flying towards goal and Maradona on the line, it would be basically impossible to miss his handball.
Just how bad this positioning idea was got highlighted to me in something that Vincent Mauro did in his Belgium vs. Korea game. Without thinking, he had positioned himself where referees nowadays stand from corners, ie. the most common-sensical place to do so. Just before the corner was taken, he remembered where he 'should' have been standing, and sprinted there instantly as the ball was being kicked.
Which shows how bizarre and counter-logical this consensus was that referees should stand behind the goals at corners! Thankfully, FIFA realised this and could correct it going forward, but the biggest victim of such positioning was Erik Fredriksson, and nothing could have saved his World Cup once he had missed Maradona's offence, and not awarded a penalty.
Which shows how bizarre and counter-logical this consensus was that referees should stand behind the goals at corners! Thankfully, FIFA realised this and could correct it going forward, but the biggest victim of such positioning was Erik Fredriksson, and nothing could have saved his World Cup once he had missed Maradona's offence, and not awarded a penalty.
It is also imperative to stress to a modern audience what the correct outcome for this situation was in 1990 - just a penalty, no sanction. In that sense, Fredriksson's mistake was no worse than, say, Schmidhuber's not to give Chris Waddle a penalty in an earlier match (clip) - both simply missed a penalty. Of course, Maradona, so blatant, Soviet Union going on to lose, made the two errors completely different kettles of fish.
FIFA had no choice but to reject Erik Fredriksson after this mistake, and they did. But the Swede was unfortunate in my book, not least because of his mostly excellent performance in this match.
Match
Erik Fredriksson, if we pretend that 13' never happened for a moment, showed an absolutely superb performance in this match, to which I can only give the highest possible regard. Undoubtedly, having been very close to getting it in 1986 too (in the middle; he was linesman for it), the Swede would have certainly been one of the front runners to handle the final this time around.
Fredriksson had slightly altered his style in the interceding period between Mexico and this game, and the way of refereeing he presented was quite majestic in my opinion; actually, it was prototypal for everything FIFA wanted their referees to be in 1990. Selfishly, I feel pretty robbed of watching this excellent Swedish referee in more games at this World Cup! I would strongly suggest watching the highlights video above.
Diligently following play, always looking for the chance to let play flow (no soft whistles, liberal use of advantage), distant-type but highly effective way of interacting with the players, presenting decisions with significant body tension in gestures, and very consistent use of disciplinary sanctions (especially acting against DtR, three different kinds) - to be honest, it was a pleasure to watch such a reffing masterclass!
Oh, and he also gave a brilliant red card for a proto-DOGSO too, the first (correctly) detected professional foul of the tournament. This was exactly the kind of cynical action which FIFA rightly wanted out of football. A flagrant holding foul which denied Claudio Caniggia a one-on-one chance on goal, saw the Swedish ref instantly issue a red card to Volodymyr Bezsonov - rightly so, well done (timestamp).
Fredriksson had slightly altered his style in the interceding period between Mexico and this game, and the way of refereeing he presented was quite majestic in my opinion; actually, it was prototypal for everything FIFA wanted their referees to be in 1990. Selfishly, I feel pretty robbed of watching this excellent Swedish referee in more games at this World Cup! I would strongly suggest watching the highlights video above.
Diligently following play, always looking for the chance to let play flow (no soft whistles, liberal use of advantage), distant-type but highly effective way of interacting with the players, presenting decisions with significant body tension in gestures, and very consistent use of disciplinary sanctions (especially acting against DtR, three different kinds) - to be honest, it was a pleasure to watch such a reffing masterclass!
Oh, and he also gave a brilliant red card for a proto-DOGSO too, the first (correctly) detected professional foul of the tournament. This was exactly the kind of cynical action which FIFA rightly wanted out of football. A flagrant holding foul which denied Claudio Caniggia a one-on-one chance on goal, saw the Swedish ref instantly issue a red card to Volodymyr Bezsonov - rightly so, well done (timestamp).
It wasn't just me who was so impressed with this performance too - Pierluigi Collina, then a Serie C referee, said that it personally inspired and influenced him very much (particularly the gestures part), and FIFA's Farouk Bouzo was equally impressed. The famed Syrian, assessor for this game, missed Maradona's handling from the stands, and initially gave Fredriksson a glowing review in his debrief.
Bouzo was said to have initially given Fredriksson what would have been the highest mark of the whole World Cup in his report, before reviewing the DVD footage. One can question some of the Syrian general's actions with regards refereeing politics, but no doubt that this man was a visionary - to the derision of most, he remarked exactly what I did on positioning, challenging much-accepted status quo there.
The one complaint one can make about this performance is that Fredriksson, known as an excellent sprinter in his matches, was often caught flat-footed in midfield, leading to less errors in positioning and detecting foul offences. While Sepp Blatter's personal explanation for the Maradona mistake (see below) is off the mark in my opinion, here, he may have had more of a point.
Bouzo was said to have initially given Fredriksson what would have been the highest mark of the whole World Cup in his report, before reviewing the DVD footage. One can question some of the Syrian general's actions with regards refereeing politics, but no doubt that this man was a visionary - to the derision of most, he remarked exactly what I did on positioning, challenging much-accepted status quo there.
The one complaint one can make about this performance is that Fredriksson, known as an excellent sprinter in his matches, was often caught flat-footed in midfield, leading to less errors in positioning and detecting foul offences. While Sepp Blatter's personal explanation for the Maradona mistake (see below) is off the mark in my opinion, here, he may have had more of a point.
Linesmen
Generally, a very quiet evening for José Roberto Ramiz Wright and Jamal Al-Sharif patrolling the lines. We can note one interesting incident each for them respectively: Al-Sharif positively, instantly perceiving that the second Argentina goal came from a defender's, not attacker's, pass (timestamp), even if the goal remains a controversial one due to the potential prior handling offence; and R. Wright negatively, for a slightly bizarre incorrect offside call in the ninetieth minute of the match (timestamp).
(by the way, how on earth was Farouk Bouzo allowed to assess his compatriot Al-Sharif in this match by FIFA; a clear conflict of interests, surely?)
(by the way, how on earth was Farouk Bouzo allowed to assess his compatriot Al-Sharif in this match by FIFA; a clear conflict of interests, surely?)
Aftermath
After very poor mistakes by referees in both of their matches (Cardellino's - clip), the Soviet Union furiously reacted to Erik Fredriksson's performance. The Swede having refereed their exit at the last World Cup, at the hands of Belgium in the second round, overseeing two controversial onside calls by the unconvincing Spanish linesman, their contempt for Fredriksson was unbound after this Argentina tie.
More interestingly for us, this performance set alight a huge argument between de facto refereeing supremo at FIFA Sepp Blatter (then only general secretary), and UEFA's Swedish leader Lennart Johansson. Blatter was furious and said that Johansson recommended Fredriksson when he shouldn't have - for Blatter, Fredriksson made his mistakes because he was too old (48) to still be reffing at the highest level.
Remarking that FIFA have to take the confederations views on refereeing because they can't assess them often (not true by the way - sure they should take their views into account, but their refs committee toured the world all the time, and played very close attention during youth championships and the Olympics for example), I think the corner positioning was the prescient point of that scene, not Fredriksson's age.
As mentioned, FIFA rejected Erik Fredriksson's performance in this game, on account of him not awarding the Soviet Union a penalty in the thirteenth minute. His World Cup, on the field, was over. No such problems for other other three officials, who continued their work on tournament matches thereafter.
Balance
Diego had done it again - his handball at the Estadio Azteca four years previous probably cost a referee a place at this World Cup, and another official more-or-less his whole livelihood, as between them the Hand of God had gone undetected by them both and was allowed to stand (report).
Just as his probably goal-saving (with save being the operative theme) went completely unpunished here too. The refereeing fall guy this time was Erik Fredriksson, and it completely tore apart an otherwise extremely positive performance by the Swedish ref.
While Soviet Union fell victim more to an archaic positioning practice than a supposedly incompetent referee, the result was deeply unsatisfying nonetheless. One of the best referees was now gone, and the Soviets' grievances from both matches were quite understandable too.
Just as his probably goal-saving (with save being the operative theme) went completely unpunished here too. The refereeing fall guy this time was Erik Fredriksson, and it completely tore apart an otherwise extremely positive performance by the Swedish ref.
While Soviet Union fell victim more to an archaic positioning practice than a supposedly incompetent referee, the result was deeply unsatisfying nonetheless. One of the best referees was now gone, and the Soviets' grievances from both matches were quite understandable too.
A rather sour match for the competition indeed.
| Erik Fredriksson (SWE) José Ramiz Wright (BRA) Jamal Al-Sharif (SYR) Rosario Lo Bello (ITA) Officials | Argentina 2-0 Soviet Union Group Stage Wednesday 13th June at 9pm (Naples) |
 Serrizuela (56') - Delaying the Restart Caniggia (59') - Delaying the Restart Maradona (72') - Delaying the Restart Monzón (78') - Tackle | Zygmantović (52') - Challenge |
 Bezsonov (48') - Professional Foul |
