Referee Rating: England v. Algeria

Uzbekistani Ravshan Irmatov is the center for this match. I have high hopes for him and his team as they did very well in the opening match of the World Cup. It would've been nice to have them for our game.

3' Easy call for the foul on Ashley Cole.

10' Easy call for the foul on Barry. Irmatov has been well positioned so far. Was right on top of the clash between Rooney and Halliche & Ziani, well placed to see there was no foul.

12' First glance looked like a good non-call on the challenge to James in the air. Irmatov was again well placed.

12' Good call on the foul by Heskey. He used his defender as a springboard to get so high.

14' Easy call on the foul by Yahia on Heskey.

15' If Johnson keeps his arms down there I think he's alright, but good call since he clearly used them to push his opponent.

18' Good non-call on the tackle on Barry

19' Looks like Irmatov and his far side assistant both missed a foul on Heskey. Heskey did make the most of it. I wonder if it really hurt that much or if he was playing it up. He hasn't been the type to dive. I would tend to give him the benefit of the doubt.

20' Easy call for the foul on Gerrard.

21' Lampard's foot wasn't terribly high and his opponent's foot was up there too.

23' Irmatov is getting in close to the play by the near side corner flag. Good job.

25' Looked like Lampard went down easy there. He's been letting that type of contact go so far so Irmatov is being consistent so far.

25' Good call for the foul on Lennon. Again good positioning.

26' It was a foul on Heskey. The advantage was there, if Rooney doesn't pull his opponent's shirt he's probably okay.

27' Not sure what the near side assistant saw Heskey do, but there was no foul there on replay.

28' Terry was desperately unlucky to get hit in the head. It didn't look like there was any malice in it nor was it a foul despite Terry taking the chance to argue otherwise as Irmatov comes over to check on him.

29' Good offside call by the far side assistant.

30' Heskey just did essentially the same thing he called for a foul for doing in the 27' and Irmatov, who was closer than the assistant this time, was right not to whistle for a foul.

33' Not a good angle on the possible Lampard hand-ball, just saw another angle and it was deliberate hand-ball. Good thing M'Bohli saved it.

35' I hope Barry hasn't injured himself there. Replay shows it was a foul, didn't look it at first glance.

37' Heskey's first touch hasn't been great so far.

39' England should have had a corner. Kadir went down easy at the slight push. It's the same contact Irmatov has been letting go all game, but this time he called it.

40' Good advantage. Lennon has not impressed me so far this Cup.

44' Easy offside call on Algeria.

45'+1 Not sure that ball really was totally over the line, but I'll trust the near-side referee as he had a much better view of it.

Algeria are not an easy team. The US will have to work hard to beat them just as England will have to in the second half.

46' Not sure how that was a foul. Irmatov let down by his assistant again I think.

48' That was a flop by Matmour.

51' Good call on the push by Barry

51' Carragher's lucky he wasn't called for a foul based on what Irmatov has been calling.

53' Given the showing of the studs like that I think that was a fair call on Yebda.

54' I'm surprised Ashley Cole wasn't called for his handball. In fact, a foul was called for him. There didn't seem to be much in the play.

57' Rooney has not been good.

58' Carragher did not try to play the ball at all. A yellow's probably fair given the position.

62' Wow Rooney's first touch is bad.

66' Good call on the foul on SWP

68' Good call on the Heskey foul. Interesting to see on replay that Heskey was holding his defender's shorts.

70' Can't tell even on replay whether Carragher's challenge should have been a foul. He got position on the attacker, but missed the ball with his left foot only to clear it with his right. I'll side with the ref on a no-call.

76' Great run by Defoe, don't think Heskey would've done that.

76' Handball appeals shown on replay to be empty; it hit Kadir's legs.

79' Looked like Abdoun started the jostling and it's not surprising the call would go the defense's way in the box.

82' Good call for the foul by Lacen. He wasn't playing the ball, it was man first.

85' Yellow for Lacen was fair. Broke down the attack and Lacen has committed a few fouls lately.

86' Gerrard went down under light contact looking for a penalty. Good on Irmatov for not buying it.

87' Good advantage played, too bad Rooney continued his poor form with that ball.

88' Lampard's not so hot this game either.

89' Not sure how much of a foul that was by Terry. Matmour's been going to ground very easily this game and Irmatov has generally not been fooled. Not sure about that one.

90'+1 That should've been a corner off Defoe's shot. It was deflected.

90'+2 That was an unnecessary challenge by Johnson on Belhadj

90'+3 England's bench are riled up after the Rooney-Kadir clash, but Rooney clearly was the aggressor there. Good call.

90'+4 Don't know what Crouch was looking at the ref for. He was the one in the wrong position and mis-timed his jump. The defender a foot shorter than him had very little effect on that.

Ratings:
First half: Above average. 6.5/10. A good start, then he missed the Lampard handball and got a little inconsistent. Let down by the near side assistant once.
Second half: Average. 5.5/10. More and more inconsistent, but at least he didn't go to his pocket like he was giving out yellow candy. His near side assistant let him down again.

Assistants: One good, one average. 6/10. They both got offside calls correct. The near side assistant called several non-fouls that the center was clearly not calling at that point.

Big decisions: Above average. 6/10. Missed the Lampard handball, saw through Gerrard's cynical flop in the box late on. Not much else

Positioning: Above average. 6.5/10. He was a little off on the Lampard handball, but that was just the angle the foul happened at, he was in a good position otherwise. Seemed to tire a little in the second half, but was generally close enough to play when he needed to be.

Overall: Above average. 6.25/10. I was expecting a lot from Irmatov after his great game in the opener. He didn't shine, but he didn't make any huge mistakes either. I definitely would have wanted him to do the US game earlier.