Referee Rating: Germany v. Spain

Viktor Kassai and his team take charge today.

4' Kassai got the restart correct after that idiot ran on the field. Spain were good sports giving the ball back to Germany since they clearly had possession when Kassai had to stop the game.

10' Easy offside call for the far side assistant on Oezil. Replay showed he might have been just onside at the exact moment the ball left his teammate's foot. It looked quite close though and ESPN didn't draw a line like they normally do, but I think that call was wrong if only barely.

22' Good no call on the flop by a Spanish defender as Klose chased the pass back to Casillas.

24' Looks like the near side assistant missed a fairly close offside call himself. I think ESPN drew their line when the ball was still on the passer's foot and not just after it left, but the Spaniard was still onside.

27' Easy call for the stomp on Podolski. Lucky there was no card there on Ramos. He was late and seemed to be more focused on Podolski than the ball.

The pitch looks terribly torn up already.

36' Not sure there. Replay shows the far side assistant got that offsides call right.

39' Easy call for that foul.

41' Another easy call for Klose's foul.

42' That was not a foul by Boateng. Replay shows it was. It also shows that the near side assistant missed a not-so-close offside call.

44' That didn't look like a foul, but then I got the last one wrong.

45'+1 The ball had gone, but that looked like a pretty clear trip. Replay shows that was a pretty clear penalty. Oezil might have gone down easily, but Ramos seemed to pretty much foul his whole left leg.

First half rating: Pretty good. 6.5/10. Kassai hasn't had much to do and his assistants have missed some offside calls. The penalty shout at the end wasn't absolutely clear, and Kassai was right there. I thought it was pretty clear, but I am rooting for Germany so I'm not entirely unbiased. The game will pick up in the second half and Kassai and his team will have to step up as well. I hope they do because they haven't been exactly outstanding so far.

49' The near side assistant might have missed another offside there, but I don't feel like rewinding to find out :)

This is a chess match. It's fascinating that both defenses essentially need only one wrong touch to break down the attack.

54' That looked like a great tackle. At least there was no card. I thought that was two fouls in a row on Germany, but replay showed the referee just got it right I think.

56' Easy call for the foul by Trochowski.

60' Technically that was a foul on Villa, but not really at this level. He went down really easy too which I'm sure didn't help.

63' That probably was a penalty if the other one was. Well replay showed there was very little contact so that was the right call.

68' That was a foul barely, but Iniesta was looking for it and seemed to run himself into Klose.

69' Easy call for the elbow by Ramos on Podolski.

72' That looked like another flop by Iniesta. There was contact though.

74' Good wave off of offsides since the ball went straight through to Casillas.

76' That seemed soft. Replay shows Xabi got mostly ball and little of his man.

84' That again seemed soft. It looked like Xabi got that right. I don't know if he could have made that tackle without taking his man, but it wasn't a foul for me.

85' That was a foul by Puyol, but outside the box.

Good game, okay referee.

Overall rating: Okay. 6/10. Kassai and his team did alright. There wasn't a whole lot for them to do and I thought they missed more than they should have. The game was kept under control, but I don't feel Kassai had a whole lot to do with that. Both teams were pretty reserved and cautious. There weren't really any hard tackles or any dirty play by either side.