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Referee Back to Work, But Without His Whistle
By JEFFREY MARCUS
JOHANNESBURG – Koman Coulibaly will be back on the job Sunday. Despite reports that he would be ferried out of the country or relieved of his refereeing duties at the World Cup, the referee from Mali will be on the sideline as the fourth official for the Italy-New Zealand game in Nelspruit this afternoon. He will back up the referee Carlos Batres of Guatemala for the Group F encounter.
Coulibaly is the man who stole victory from the Americans, or rescued a tie for the Slovenians, depending on your point of view. His decision to whistle a foul in the Slovenian box against the United States negated Maurice Edu’s apparent go-ahead goal in the 85th minute.
There has been, to date, no explanation of the call and one is not likely to come when referees and FIFA officials meet with the media on Monday morning in Pretoria.
FIFA released a statement Sunday saying it would not address any specific decision or actions by any one referee. It also said that some referees will not be available because they will be traveling to or from matches that they were assigned to work.
Nelspruit is 342 kilometers from Pretoria, about a three-and-a-half-hour drive. The Italy-New Zealand game will end around 6 p.m. local time Sunday, providing a plausible reason Coulibaly might not be available to answer questions during the scheduled open session with referees.
The decision to call a foul against the Americans has been the most controversial call of the tournament so far, and creates a convoluted list of scenarios for Group C. Any one of the four teams could technically qualify for the knockout rounds, depending on the results Wednesday when the United States plays Algeria and England faces Slovenia. To advance, the Americans must win. A tie leaves them at the mercy of the Slovenia-England result.
For Coulibaly to advance, he’ll have to escape a harsh evaluation in his match review. All games are reviewed by FIFA based on video and the referee’s match report. Yahoo! Sports reported that the review of the United States-Slovenia game would be expedited. The referees panel could decide not to assign Coulibaly and his crew to any more games for the remainder of the tournament, though FIFA is not likely to say why it would make such a decision.
By JEFFREY MARCUS
JOHANNESBURG – Koman Coulibaly will be back on the job Sunday. Despite reports that he would be ferried out of the country or relieved of his refereeing duties at the World Cup, the referee from Mali will be on the sideline as the fourth official for the Italy-New Zealand game in Nelspruit this afternoon. He will back up the referee Carlos Batres of Guatemala for the Group F encounter.
Coulibaly is the man who stole victory from the Americans, or rescued a tie for the Slovenians, depending on your point of view. His decision to whistle a foul in the Slovenian box against the United States negated Maurice Edu’s apparent go-ahead goal in the 85th minute.
There has been, to date, no explanation of the call and one is not likely to come when referees and FIFA officials meet with the media on Monday morning in Pretoria.
FIFA released a statement Sunday saying it would not address any specific decision or actions by any one referee. It also said that some referees will not be available because they will be traveling to or from matches that they were assigned to work.
Nelspruit is 342 kilometers from Pretoria, about a three-and-a-half-hour drive. The Italy-New Zealand game will end around 6 p.m. local time Sunday, providing a plausible reason Coulibaly might not be available to answer questions during the scheduled open session with referees.
The decision to call a foul against the Americans has been the most controversial call of the tournament so far, and creates a convoluted list of scenarios for Group C. Any one of the four teams could technically qualify for the knockout rounds, depending on the results Wednesday when the United States plays Algeria and England faces Slovenia. To advance, the Americans must win. A tie leaves them at the mercy of the Slovenia-England result.
For Coulibaly to advance, he’ll have to escape a harsh evaluation in his match review. All games are reviewed by FIFA based on video and the referee’s match report. Yahoo! Sports reported that the review of the United States-Slovenia game would be expedited. The referees panel could decide not to assign Coulibaly and his crew to any more games for the remainder of the tournament, though FIFA is not likely to say why it would make such a decision.
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