Referee Rating: Netherlands v. Brazil

Yuichi Nishimura from Japan centers this match. I wasn't impressed by him in Uruguay v. France, but by all accounts he's been better in his other two matches (Spain v. Honduras and Paraguay v. New Zealand).

3' & 4' Some easy early calls to settle the game a little.

8' Good call on the offsides on Alves.

9' Great ball, easy call, Robinho was yards onside.

14' Easy yellow for Heitinga. He just reached out and kicked Fabiano. It was nowhere near the ball.

16' Robben exaggerated that quite a bit, but it was clearly a foul. Glad there was no booking there.

18' I'm not sure why Robinho is yelling there, he clearly pulled de Jong over.

22' Easy foul on Lucio.

24' That was a push by Bastos on Robben, but it wasn't anything that for me was at the level of a foul, Robben just made the most of it.

25' Great tackle by de Jong.

26' I didn't see the offside, but the far side assistant has already got several decisions correct and that was probably pretty easy given it came from a long clearance.

28' A little weak, but Kaka was clipped.

30' van Bommel made a good tackle but it wasn't a foul on either side for me or Nishimura.

31' Good advantage and a great shot and save.

32' The Dutch seem to be getting frustrated and are asking for nothing fouls.

33' Kaka looked like he tripped himself when I first saw it, but the replay shows it was a foul.

33' The call on the push by Robinho should calm the Dutch a bit.

34' Did the near-side assistant get that right? Yes he did. Kuyt did great to hold his run. Good awareness by Nishimura and Alves on that "trick" corner.

35' Juan had his hands all over van Persie. I think if he'd kept his hands down he might not have been called for the jump into/over van Persie's back.

37' Not sure why that was a foul, but if it is then it's an easy yellow for persistent infringement. That was a push and maybe a little kick too. Robben seems to be going down easily, but there he got hit decently hard from behind. Robben was braced and low and his reaction to the contact looked genuine so I think it was a good call.

39' Fabiano's time to go down easy. That was a blatant shove by Maicon. He tried to hide it from the ref and assistant, but the assistant still spotted it.

40' Good non-call for Fabiano's roll, but it looked like he kicked out at his defender. Maybe it was just part of the fall. Replay shows van Bommel had an elbow on Fabiano, but that Fabiano did kick out deliberately at van Bommel's nether region.

43' Easy call for the foul on Maicon, but he went down before contact and rolled a bit theatrically.

45' Some good non-calls in a row.

45'+1 Not sure why Robben didn't have a shot when he was ~22 yards out...

45'+1 It was a corner, but I always find it funny when players whine about those calls yet lie blatantly about them any time they can.

First half rating: Slightly above average. 6.5/10. He's done fairly well, but the game has gotten a little out of hand at times and it's not been completely handled at least as far as player reactions and attitudes are concerned. He's gotten somewhat better as the game has gone on so I hope he picks it up in the second half as the players and his team get more tired and the Netherlands get more desperate for an equalizer.

47' That was a good yellow for diving.

49' Not sure how that was a foul on de Jong.

51' That was a foul on van Bommel, but it was 50/50 and asking for a card is unnecessary. That tackle wasn't reckless and it was at midfield.

52' That was a foul, but never a yellow. van Bommel is really annoying me. He's asking for cards for everything.

53' What a mistake by Cesar and his defense.

55' Good offside call by the far side assistant.

61' Not sure whether that contact on Kaka was a foul, but he went over.

63' That hit

64' Easy yellow on de Jong, that's his 4th or 5th foul this game.Lucio's arm, but I think it would have been harsh. He was only a few feet from the ball and had his arm up to try and clear the ball not make himself bigger. A good non-call and good positioning by Nishimura.

68' What a great corner! Good flick by Kuyt and Sneijder was left alone to have a free header. Bad defending again by Brazil.

70' A foul by Alves, but I'm not sure why Nishimura called it back. He didn't seem to signal for the Dutch to wait for a whistle and they're entitled to take it quickly otherwise.

72' Kaka fell over very easily on the arm by Ooijer. He was loooking for a call I think.

73' Melo got a slight tap, but his reaction was dissent for me. Wow. That was a blatant stamp by Melo. An easy red card for that despicable act. I hope he gets banned for more than 3 games for that. Brazil are probably out at this point anyways, but he needs to have serious consequences for that. He was trying to hurt Robben by stamping on his knee. I have other things I'd like to write about that, but they're not appropriate here. That type of blatant disregard for an opponent needs to be eradicated from football. Emotions run high in these games, but there is no excuse for going after another player's knee while he's on the ground.

75' It was a foul on Robben. Robinho needs to watch himself. Lucio does well to get his players away before they get booked.

76' No need for that from Ooijer and we see why some refs keep their cards in separate pockets.

78' This game has gotten away from Nishimura a bit. He's not really had much control in this half.

84' Everyone is asking for fouls for every type of contact now.

87' Great tackle by Juan. Everyone's asking for cards for every actual foul now...

88' That's van Bommel's 5th or 6th foul I think. I'm not sure why he hasn't got a yellow yet. None of his fouls have been terrible, despite Lucio's theatrical fall on the last one, but he has been committing quite a few fouls.

90'+1 Even the normally cool Kaka is yelling at Nishimura now. It's pretty clear that Nishimura does not have any control over this game.

90'+2 Another foul by van Bommel and no card.

90'+3 What a wasted chance by the Dutch.

Second half rating: Average. 5/10. As expected, the game picked up in the second half, but Nishimura didn't step up.

Positioning: Good. 7/10. He was where he needed to be, which makes some of his decisions and non-decisions puzzling.

Game control: Poor. 3/10. This game got away from Nishimura and everyone, especially the players, knew it.

Overall: Average. 5/10. This game needed a great performance from the refereeing team and they gave an average one. Nishimura got all the major decisions right, dismissing the handball call on Lucio, the red for Melo, and other cards. He should have booked van Bommel though. He started losing control of the game late in the first half and completely lost it in the second half. He seemed to be a bit inconsistent in his foul calling and whether he saw through dives or not. I can't blame Nishimura too much, this was a very tough game. It will probably be the toughest Quarterfinal to referee though we'll have to see how Argentina v. Germany goes. Only the best will be able to step up in these types of games and Nishimura showed he was good by getting the big decisions right, but that he wasn't great by losing control of the game.