Referee Rating: Germany v. Serbia

Alberto Undiano - Spain

2' not sure about the foul on Podolski, but if that's all I have to complain about this game, it'll be a good one for Undiano

7' Podolski is incredible Serbia need to close down those chances if they want to have a chance in this game themselves

9' Ivanovic seemed to go down very easily under Klose's challenge though it was hard to see how much contact if any there was from the angle we got

12' Yellow card for Klose seems harsh. It was accidental contact that Ivanovic again made the most of. It was probably for persistent infringement due to the foul Klose made on Ivanovic at 9'

14' Badestuber's foul was mis-timed and the assistant did well to spot it and keep performing his duty of watching for offsides. I've always found it harder to spot fouls really close to me and continue watching offsides because of the constant switching between near and far vision

18' For once I agree with a commentator about a refereeing decision, Ivanovic's yellow card was quite soft. It was a foul to be sure, but not hard, not terribly late, certainly not reckless to me. Though, if Cahill's foul was a red (and it shouldn't have been), then that was a yellow, but that's stretching a bit I think.

19' Kolarov's yellow card definitely was, it was late and he was never going to get anything but the man. The commentators are right, this game could be ruined by a second yellow=red or two because of these early cards.

21' Khedira's yellow was fair. It was a stupid challenge and totally unnecessary.

28' Mueller really can't figure out how to cross

30' Good spot by the assistant on the offside call. Undiano had been cheating a lot on his positioning, but he's been better the last few minutes. Don't know if he was just tired or had a bit of trouble reading the game for a bit. Could've been the sun, it looks like it's giving the players trouble

32' Lahm's challenge was stupid as well. He was never going to get the ball. Easy yellow card decision being that it was ~25 yards out.

34' Foul on Podolski was correct, but Undiano was quite far away. His positioning is slipping again. Fitness problems or not, if he doesn't get a bit closer to play, he's likely to send someone off for a foul that looked terrible from far off, but wasn't.

36' Just finished typing above and Klose is sent off for a second yellow that was a foul, but not a yellow. This game has been ruined by an overactive referee. Undiano was ~18 yards away, not too far, but seemed to have a bad angle on it.

38' I'm surprised Jovanovic was not booked for his celebration, but then Undiano's decision making with regard to cards has been odd so far anyways. Not that I agree with bookings for celebrations like that anyways, but it is a yellow normally.

44' That was quite a flop from Stojkovic. Goalkeepers are protected, but that was a bit much. At least there was no booking for it. Undiano was about 20 yards away and had a bad angle.

45'+1 Germany were desperately unlucky. Khedira should've put that away from 14 yards out.

46' Not sure why they called offside when the ball had already gone through to the keeper. Generally just let the keeper play it out and move on. Another odd decision.

51' Not sure what foul Undiano is playing advantage for...

52' Will that be a yellow for the foul on Schweinsteiger? No, the Serb did well to play up his "injury" and get out of it. Mind you, it shouldn't have been a yellow except based on Undiano's previous booking decisions. Inconsistent and erratic, not qualities you want in a referee.

54' Great tackle by Vidic

54' Surprised at no card for Khedira. Also, once there's contact, it's no longer dangerous play, that should've been a direct free kick for kicking.

55' I really thought Lahm was off. Maybe someone talked some sense into Undiano at half. We can always hope.

56' If it had been any other referee, I wouldn't have been surprised at the non-call for Lahm, but that's been called all game. I can only think that the way Lahm went down caused the ref to reconsider.

57' Predictable yellow for Subotic. That one probably was a yellow as his trailing leg was the one that came in late and took out the player.

57' I wouldn't expect Podolski to miss such a great chance. It's just not Germany's day.

59' Germany don't look like they're missing a man. If they'd played like this in the first half they might not have had to worry when Klose was sent off.

59' Not sure why Vidic handled the ball like that, but it was an easy decision with how far out his arm was and was well spotted.

60' Well that was a terrible penalty. Not hard, not far from the keeper. It's definitely not Germany's day.

63' At least the flop from Krasic didn't get a second look.

67' Easy offside call

70' Good subs by both sides. More defensive for Serbia. Oezil hasn't done much and Mueller has been off all day.

71' Maybe Undiano did get some sense at the half; no card for Mertesacker.

73' Yellow for Schweinsteiger. Probably was since it was from behind and there was little chance of getting the ball, but it was slow and not really reckless for me. Undiano seemed to indicate it was for persistent infringement by holding up 4 fingers as if to tell Schweinsteiger that it wasn't just for that foul. I can't remember three other fouls by him, but I'll give Undiano the benefit of the doubt.

76' At this level, I'm not sure whether that actually was a foul committed by Badestuber. Not an inexcusable call though.

81' Serbia really should have a second goal by now. They've had some great chances.

82' Again, a sensible non-card despite Cacau's writhing.

84' I agree with Marin, not sure why Podolski didn't feed him through.

87' That probably should've been a yellow for Krasic.

90'+3 Not sure what that foul was for other than Stankovic got a cramp kicking Gomez' foot so hard inside the box.

Ratings:
1st half 4/10, 2nd half 6/10.

Big decisions: Poor. 3/10. Klose's sending off shouldn't have been. The penalty was, but that was quite easy to spot and I'm not even sure Undiano spotted it, his assistant had a great view though. Calling a foul on Gomez at the end when it should've been a penalty didn't surprise me as Undiano was out of position and therefore had a bad angle on it.

Assistants: Above Average. 6/10. They didn't have much to do, but did fairly well when they did. What I would expect at a minimum at the World Cup.

Positioning: Average. 5/10. Well placed for some decisions, not for others. Seemed to cheat at the wrong times. At the World Cup I expect better.

Overall: Below average. 4/10.

Undiano pulled it together in the second half, but by that time he had already negatively impacted the game. Germany have no one to blame but themselves though. They could easily have won this game even with 10 men.