Brazil 2014: Referees that deserve red card

With just four more matches to go in the Brazil 2014 mundial,( two semi finals, third place and final) the tourna­ment is now on the home stretch.
The tournament has no doubt lived up to its billing with most of the players putting up a five star per­formance. The fans have been enjoying it all.
But the question to ask is this: Has the better side always won here in Brazil? The answer to this question is a no. There has been that element of luck. That was clearly what saw the hosts Brazil survive Chile in the second round.
Beyond the element of luck,officiating has equally been a big factor. Referees here have literally given some teams victory with their whistle, no thanks to their mistakes. Some un­pardonable.
FIFA has always insisted in picking the very best of referees for the World Cup, given how high the stakes are. But the truth is that the men in black are human and liable to make mistakes. Brazil 2014 has had its own fair share of referee’s mistakes.
Just as the strikers throw away begging chances in front of goal, so also the referees sometimes make or mar a match.
Below, we bring you the list of referees who ought to have been given the marching order “red card” for not living up to expec­tation in the games they handled. They made ques­tionable calls which saw the coaches and players crying to the high heavens.

Nishimura (japan)

Yuichi Nishimura (Ja­pan): Nishimura did not get thumbs up when he took charge of the Brazil ver­sus Croatia opener which ended 3-1 in favor of the hosts. Nishimura awarded a controversial 71st minute penalty to Brazil.
As a fan puts it, Nishimura gave Brazil a penalty gift, disallowed Croatia’s goal. Beyond that Brazil was allowed to play on after a Croatian player was fouled. That gave Bra­zil the third goal. Brazilian and Croatian players gave a good account of them­selves in the opener, but the referee did a poor job.

Eduardo Diaz (Colom­bia)

 

Eduardo Diaz (Colom­bia): Outright poor job, that was what centre ref­eree Diaz and his assistant Humberto Clavijo did in the Mexico versus Camer­oon group A match. Two Mexican goals were disal­lowed by the referee who judged the scorers as being off side. But replays should that they were good goals that should have counted. Little wonder FIFA decided to send Clavijo home after that poor outing.

Carlos Vera (Ecuador): Vera is one referee that Ivo­riens won’t forgrt in a hur­ry for ruining their World Cup second round dream. The referee awarded what could pass for an outright dubious penalty to Greece with only 10 seconds left of play. Greece scored from the spot to pick the group’s second round tick­et ahead of the Africans. African footballer of the year Yaya Toure described it as nothing but a fraud in­sisting that it is one of the plots against Africa.

Peter O Leary (New Zea­land): Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko was disappointed with the officiating after seeing his goal being disal­lowed. The Bosnians also protested the goal scored by Nigeria. They felt the referee should have spot­ted an infringement against Emenike who pushed down a Bosnian defender be­fore laying the pass which Osaze Odemwingie uti­lized to score the only goal of the match. As the Bos­nians were going home, they urged FIFA to equally send O Leary home. “That referee should leave just as we are leaving,” the Bosnia camp demanded. O Leary did not actually live up to expectation.

Mark Geiger (USA): Al­pha and Omega! That was what Nigeria’s coach Ste­phen Keshi dubbed Geiger after the Nigeria versus France encounter. Keshi blamed Nigeria’s exit on the referee describing his performance as nothing but a shame. Keshi felt Emenike’s goal was a good one, even as he tongue lashed the referee for not protecting Nigerian play­ers when the French team became too rough. One of such tackles by France saw Ogenyi Onazi being stretchered out. The referee didn’t even flash a card.
Many agreed with Keshi that Geiger did not do a good job.

Milorad Mazic (Serbia): The Serbian referee was obviously too lenient to the Argentines by not award­ing a penalty to Iran when Dejagah was brought down inside the Argentine’s box with only few minutes left of play. Iran could prob­ably have recorded the biggest upset of the World Cup if the referee was more professional. Even in defeat, the Iranians were applauded while Mazic got thumbs down.what do you think?