Discuss? Criticize?

Is it criticism and self-criticism?

At first, Jack thought that this meeting was just to determine the arrangement of the referee for the knockout round. Unexpectedly, before the start, Villar took out various controversies in the group stage and discussed them with those top referees.

Isn't this a naked slap in the face?

Jack thinks so. There are too many controversies in this World Cup, and there are too many to count. Almost every game in the group stage is controversial. Of course, this also has something to do with the high attention of the World Cup.

The same is true in the Premier League.

If you look at the Premier League with a magnifying glass, every game will be controversial. There is absolutely no perfect decision, and there is absolutely no game without any controversy. However, in addition to the important games, there are also some games with major misjudgments, and some controversies in other games will be gently put aside by the media.

Why?

Not much value. Your game was inherently unnoticed, there was a little controversy, and there was no media interest in covering it. Because not many people watch the games that don't pay much attention to them. No one reads, what's the point of reporting.

Compared to those reports, where there is coverage of Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leeds United and other teams have attracted attention. For the sake of sales, they certainly don't pay attention to those games.

But the World Cup is completely different.

Almost every game is highly followed by the media around the world, and the slightest mistake by the referee will be dug up by the media after the game. And then criticize harshly.

In addition, there are indeed too many controversies in this World Cup, and there are indeed too many misjudgments by the referees. As a result, criticism is incessant.

These referees were present. There were also a lot of miscalculations.

So Villar's approach made the referees present not very happy. Luckily, Villar has only come up with a few exceptions. Controversial penalties are discussed.

The striking surface is not too wide.

After wasting about twenty minutes like this, Villar began to assign the referee for the eighth-knockout match.

"Jack. Referee Lee. Officiating the match between Germany and Paraguay. ”

With Villar's announcement, Jack's mind was full of doubts. I'm really too puzzled about how I can enforce this game. Now that the group stage of the World Cup is basically over, the matchups of the knockout rounds have also come out.

Germany and Paraguay.

This game is the first game of the eighth-knockout round, how can you find a young referee like yourself. And it's a match between Germany and Paraguay, between European teams and South American teams.

Unlike the group stage, there are still some evasions in the knockout round.

There is some evasion from referees and teams on the same continent.

Of course, there are no hard and fast rules. In FIFA's rules for avoiding the World Series, only the referees and national teams of the same country should be avoided, and there are no hard and fast rules for the same continent.

But everyone consciously abides by this rule. In general. The referee and the national team of the same continent are avoided.

Originally, Jack thought that the game he was going to officiate should be the game between the United States and Mexico. The United States and Mexico are both American teams, and there is nothing wrong with a European referee like Jack. And in the knockout round, this is the least watched game.

There are also two more matches in which European referees will be able to enforce the law. One is a match between England and Denmark and the other is a match between Spain and Ireland. It's just that Jack is an English referee, and he needs to avoid England and Ireland. But other European referees do not shy away from such civil wars in European countries.

It's just that I didn't expect to officiate the match between Germany and Paraguay.

But with Villar's announcement, Jack somewhat understood why he would officiate the first game. Villar has clearly done a lot of homework. The first game of the eighth-elimination tournament was a rookie referee like Jack.

And the following are slowly the top referees, and the better the referees, the more they are ranked behind. It's clearly an incremental feeling.

A game is excluded, of course.

The referee officiating the South Korean and Italian matches was Moreno from Ecuador. Speaking of which, for Moreno. Jack is not very familiar. South America also has a lot of high-level referees. Every year, FIFA scores the referees, and the top referees in South America and Europe are able to stand on top. But it is clear that Moreno is clearly not in the ranks.

But Jack didn't care, and certainly couldn't.

Italy's World Cup is relatively unlucky. In the group stage, it was frequently hit by misjudgments. Including Jack's fellow Graham. Bol also made frequent misjudgments in the matches between Italy and Croatia. And the targets of the injuries are all Italy.

But Italy was not hurt. It doesn't have anything to do with Jack either. Jack is a fan, and an England fan. Many people are worried that European referees like Jack may be biased in favor of European teams.

But in fact, if England is eliminated. Jack would love to see other European teams eliminated as well. Including teams like Germany, Italy, and Spain, Jack is not a single one. Whoever says that European referees will favor European teams.

Of course, Jack is a professional referee.

Although there are also their own petty temperaments in the game. But I definitely won't really blow the game according to my own petty temperament.

"Jack, blow the first knockout. Don't stress too much. ”

After Villar finished speaking, Frisk, who was next to him, patted Jack on the shoulder. Friske has been through a lot of battles, but two years ago he blew the European Championship final, the classic final between France and Italy, which he blew the penalty.

So the experience is very rich.

"Thank you, Anders."

Jack is blowing for the match between Germany and Paraguay, and Frisker is going to blow for the match between Spain and Ireland.

"Go back and get ready."

Jack is indeed a little anxious now, how to say the knockout round. The 15th was the match between Germany and Paraguay, and Jack had little time to prepare. Jack now just wants to get back quickly. Go back and take a good look at the information from Germany and Paraguay.

Germany is ok.

Before the start of the World Cup, Germany was hailed as the least star-studded. Because now the German national team. There really aren't any top players. With the exception of goalkeeper Kahn and Ballack in midfield, the rest of the players were not very good.

But how to say. Germany are European teams. Jack is still familiar with Germany.

But Paraguay is different.

Jack wasn't very familiar with Paraguay. Don't think it's a World Cup referee, because you're familiar with the World Cup team, it's impossible. For example, Jack was supposed to just officiate a game, so Jack only knew about Brazil and Turkey.

You don't need to know Paraguay.

Not to mention Paraguay, like South Korea and Japan, the hosts of this World Cup, plus China, which is participating in the World Cup for the first time, etc., are completely unfamiliar to Jack.

Didn't know anything about their players. There are very few players who can be named.

Jack didn't have to get to know them. Now to enforce Germany and Paraguay, Jack needs to take a good look at Paraguay's squad. Look at their style of play too.

"Jack. Hello, Referee Lee. ”

"Hello."

Jack had just walked out. I didn't take a few steps before I was stopped by someone. Although Jack didn't know the name of the person in front of him, he knew that it was a staff member of the FIFA referee committee.

He had just followed behind Villar and Elger.

"Mr. Villar wants to meet with you."

"Me? Good. ”

Jack was a little confused, but followed him to another room and saw Villar. Elger wasn't there, only Villar was alone.

"Hello, Mr. Villar."

FIFA Vice President, FIFA Chief Referee, UEFA Vice President, UEFA General Referee, Spanish Football Federation President, these are all the halos on Villar.

These titles also indicate Villar's standing in world football.

Needless to say in Spanish football, it is not easy to sit in the position of president of the Football Association for more than ten years. And to be able to compete with FIFA and UEFA, the two-for-tat bodies. It's a great thing to be able to become a real power.

"Jack, sit."

"Yes."

Jack didn't understand why Villar was alone with him.

"The match between Jack, Germany and Paraguay was the first match of the knockout round. I'm not demanding. Just don't make big mistakes. You don't have to be burdened, and you don't have any nervousness. ”

Twenty-six, Villar though gave Jack a chance. But that doesn't mean he isn't worried.

Because Jack is really too young. Villar was reluctant to put pressure on Jack, and Villar did something about it. Let Jack be the first to play. Even if there are mistakes on Jack's side, most of them are top referees in the back. As long as the referee at the back behaves well. can undo some of the adverse effects on referees in this World Cup.

"I know."

"Jack, be strict. I'd rather interrupt the rhythm of some matches than have a controversy. ”

Originally, both FIFA and UEFA strongly promoted the fluidity and integrity of the game, so in addition to protecting the attacking players, most of the penalties were made to encourage attacking angles.

But Villar's head hurts too much because of the various controversies of this World Cup. All sorts of controversies, and then the media are criticizing the referee committee.

That's why I told Jack that.

"Yes."

In fact, it was very inappropriate for Villar to meet with a referee like Jack alone before the game. Once the referee has been decided, no one can communicate with the referee alone. Because it's easy to make people outside think about it. Even a chief referee like Villar.

But there were no outsiders now, so Villar spoke to Jack briefly. The first is to meet Jack, the young referee, and the other is to warn Jack. (To be continued......)