IN FOCUS: Match 36 - Scotland vs. Uruguay, Joël Quiniou
Uruguay got the point which they needed to pip Scotland to third place in World Cup 1986's group of death in a tempestuous scoreless tie, in which José Batista was sent off for a foul tackle after fifty-two seconds by the French referee Joël Quiniou, in what remains World Cup record time.
The South American champions used every trick in the book in order to secure the necessary drawn result, and Quiniou faced a very unenviable task as referee in this match. FIFA strongly praised the Frenchman for his early red card decision, but didn't appoint him again in any role for the knockout stages.
While any referee would have found himself in trouble in such a match, I'd say that those two facts give a relatively fair resume of this whole performance.
Preface
Uruguay
and Scotland faced a sudden-death match to determine who would get the
last ticket to the knockout stage, with it having now been determined
that the third place team of Group E were to face Argentina in the round
of sixteen stage.
Scotland
started having lost both their first games, Uruguay were a point ahead
of their opponent on a solitary point; the reigning the Copa América
champions, who only needed a draw to advance, had aroused tension for
their rough way of playing in the tournament so far. A battle royale was
in store!The appointments for all of the group stage matches were made before a ball was kicked, and FIFA had selected Joël Quiniou to lead this encounter. The young Frenchman was something of a surprise selection from France, with Michel Vautrot widely expected to return after his appearance in España 1982.
Standing as linesmen were Jesús Díaz (Colombia, yellow flag) and Ali Bennaceur (Tunisia, red) - both had performed well in their games as referee prior, and could be considered high flyers in FIFA's eyes, the two of whom could expect big things from this World Cup.
Confederational neutrality as we know it didn't exist in 1986, but it did in some form - a European ref in the middle for a UEFA vs. CONMEBOL team invariably lead to one linesman from South America, and another from a 'neutral' continent. You can map this trend in essentially every match in the tournament.
The reserve linesman - the name by which today's fourth officials went by - was Marco Dorantes García, a long time FIFA referee from Mexico. This role was almost exclusively executed by local officials (a customary offering to the host association), and multi-lingual Dorantes García was one of the most trusted.
Match Video
Full refereeing highlights can be found in the link below.
Big Decision
Joël Quiniou caused quite a stir in the first minute - for José Batista's very late tackle on Gordon Strachan, the Uruguay defender was shown the red card. Not only the timing of the decision shocked contemporaries, but the nature of it too; without any doubt, in our modern context, the foul would be widely viewed in a rather different light - timestamp.
Firstly, we need to put this decision in it's tournament context - FIFA had communicated both internally and externally that they were dissatisfied with a relatively high number of the early performances, which they had felt were too lenient.
Sepp Blatter, then FIFA General Secretary and de facto referee supremo, had even gone public to remind FIFA's referees of their duty mid-way through the tournament. Despite scrutinising sources, irritatingly I can't find the exact date of this statement, but it seems to have been not too many days before this match.
FIFA and Blatter strongly praised Quiniou's decision, stating it was an excellent signal for the tournament. Because it is 1986, not even one replay of the incident was shown. The only extra impression we have of the incident was shot by an extra BBC camera (here).
Batista had intended to do Strachan, no doubt about it - throughout the match, it became obvious that Uruguay had targeted this specific Scotland attacker; here, Strachan didn't even control and move on with the ball himself, he passed it and then was hit deliberately hit by his opponent.
Firstly, we need to put this decision in it's tournament context - FIFA had communicated both internally and externally that they were dissatisfied with a relatively high number of the early performances, which they had felt were too lenient.
Sepp Blatter, then FIFA General Secretary and de facto referee supremo, had even gone public to remind FIFA's referees of their duty mid-way through the tournament. Despite scrutinising sources, irritatingly I can't find the exact date of this statement, but it seems to have been not too many days before this match.
FIFA and Blatter strongly praised Quiniou's decision, stating it was an excellent signal for the tournament. Because it is 1986, not even one replay of the incident was shown. The only extra impression we have of the incident was shot by an extra BBC camera (here).
Batista had intended to do Strachan, no doubt about it - throughout the match, it became obvious that Uruguay had targeted this specific Scotland attacker; here, Strachan didn't even control and move on with the ball himself, he passed it and then was hit deliberately hit by his opponent.
While at first it seems like Batista was going to do an unspeakably bad studs-on-calf assault (à la on Eduardo da Silva), he actually pulls out a bit and weirdly ends up turning mid-air, causing two weird-looking trapping contacts. Fortunately, Strachan expects it - otherwise the result could have been awful.
Quiniou must have guessed that this decision would have been well-received by FIFA, but even so, the Frenchman should be strongly praised for this red card - a clear example of a pre-meditated tackle as an attack and he had the nerve to put himself in the newspapers by taking the right decision.
Instant red cards were a very rare occurrence from before the mid-1990s, and any first-minute red card is obviously still a rarity indeed - and the Quiniou still had the nerve to stand up for fairness. A brilliant call, respect!
Quiniou must have guessed that this decision would have been well-received by FIFA, but even so, the Frenchman should be strongly praised for this red card - a clear example of a pre-meditated tackle as an attack and he had the nerve to put himself in the newspapers by taking the right decision.
Instant red cards were a very rare occurrence from before the mid-1990s, and any first-minute red card is obviously still a rarity indeed - and the Quiniou still had the nerve to stand up for fairness. A brilliant call, respect!
Managing the Game
Joël Quiniou sent an excellent signal with the early red card, though one that would be hard to keep for the rest of the match. This match was a real tough one, and while Quiniou did not offer a shining performance, the Frenchman didn't fare too badly either.
Let's start with the red card on an MtG level - firstly, he shows the card to Batista on the floor, a point which is easily missed. Actually, this a great signal for me, that the ref really did (rightly) see this foul as an assault which needed dealing with instantly, as opposed to just showing a red card to prove a point.
But it also suggests he was a bit flustered perhaps, as does the card showing procedure. The red is shown three times, amid a macedoine of gestures, where he didn't really face the mobbing players at all. The overall impression is slightly flustered, and a great opportunity to take the initiative gets a little bit lost.
Some smaller scenes (little DtR attempt, small contacts crying out to be whistled weren't, heavier charging foul) precipitated a really key scene for me at 10' [05:45] - Eduardo Acevado comes flying across with a crazy attempted deliberate kicking foul, a clear red card for challenge as an attack in a modern context.
The challenge's victim, Paul Sturrock, does really well to hurdle Acevado, and moments later the ball goes out for a corner. If Quiniou wanted to show he was really serious on clamping down on Uruguay, he would have booked Acevado and displayed to everyone that he really did stand for zero tolerance.
Instead, the French ref just makes some small "I played advantage" gesture to the one small complaint by a Scotland player. The (Uruguay) players made note. To emphasise the mobbing point from earlier, players running at Quiniou to demand Richard Gough being booked for PI at 13' [06:50] faced no censure.
For the rest of the first half, France's official managed to mostly prevent tension from boiling over, with the successful 'reactive' elements of refereeing, eg. running in quickly to stop any potential escalation.
The challenge's victim, Paul Sturrock, does really well to hurdle Acevado, and moments later the ball goes out for a corner. If Quiniou wanted to show he was really serious on clamping down on Uruguay, he would have booked Acevado and displayed to everyone that he really did stand for zero tolerance.
Instead, the French ref just makes some small "I played advantage" gesture to the one small complaint by a Scotland player. The (Uruguay) players made note. To emphasise the mobbing point from earlier, players running at Quiniou to demand Richard Gough being booked for PI at 13' [06:50] faced no censure.
For the rest of the first half, France's official managed to mostly prevent tension from boiling over, with the successful 'reactive' elements of refereeing, eg. running in quickly to stop any potential escalation.
There was an explosive few-minute-long series though:
31' - Enzo Francescoli makes a deliberate late charging foul on Willie Miller, freekick only given
31' - Enzo Francescoli makes a deliberate late charging foul on Willie Miller, freekick only given
32' - an assaulting challenge by Wilmar Cabrera, a crystal clear red card nowadays; given the way they focused on such fouls in 1986, I guess a caution was the expected decision, which Quiniou does give
33' - Frank McAvennie seems to react to his confronter with some kind of strike, with Uruguay then mobbing the ref to sanction him; Quiniou proceeds, as he was, backwardly moving, ordering them with angry gestures to put the ball back and take the goalkick
35' - what seems to be a VC-ish incident implicating Víctor Diogo is quickly sprinted to with no extra-player escalation by the French referee, who then fails on an MtG level in this scene; no warning to Diogo, he just hurriedly orders the game restarted with the throw-in
Quiniou was fortunate that nothing really flared up in the minutes after 35', the only real later incident in the first half was a challenge by Cabrera at 42' [15:20] - though already cautioned, this definitely wasn't enough for a 'proto-SYC' ejection in 1986.
Cabrera did run that gauntlet closely throughout the game though, none more so than when he showed his middle finger in the direction of somebody seconds after the aforementioned foul, though this gesture went undetected by the match officials.
FIFA publicly threatened to throw Uruguay out if they continue with their 'tactical approach' vs. Scotland during the knockout rounds, but I think what really annoyed the governing body was their deliberately coming out late for the second half, which set up forty-five more tempestuous minutes for the officials.
Which Quiniou started well, instantly carding David Narey for a reckless tackle at 49' [19:10]. This foul triggered one of quite a few scenes where the French ref should be strongly praised for differentiating genuine injury from time-wasting successfully. Uruguay actually got the message clearly in this regard.
One further card for a foul was sorted out after halftime, 63' [24:30]. While there were other credible shouts for further yellows in this category (two standing fouls from behind by Uruguay and a deliberate kicking foul by Scotland), Quiniou's use of sanctions was certainly very good for 1986.
In the second half, the referee missed a small handful of incidents which would have helped him calm the game down, but a potential VC striking at 67' [27:10] was perhaps key. While Nelson Gutiérrez's action was crafty, the French official should at least have at least clocked it on a perception level.
Having already given one caution for a purposely slow restart at 73' [28:00], as the end of the match drew, focus on DtR increased. I'm not neccessarily sure Quiniou succeeded here - Acevado at 86' [30:45] and Antonio Alzamendi at 87' [next seq.] clearly took the p*ss out of the referee, and were not sanctioned.
Goalkeeper Fernando Álvez at 88' [following seq.] was booked though for deliberately passing the ball to a teammate who was clearly inside the penalty area, and Alzamendi should have joined him after said goalkick was taken, for kicking the ball away after a freekick decision.
Goalkeeper Fernando Álvez at 88' [following seq.] was booked though for deliberately passing the ball to a teammate who was clearly inside the penalty area, and Alzamendi should have joined him after said goalkick was taken, for kicking the ball away after a freekick decision.
Uruguay had time-wasted badly throughout the second period, taken to absurdum at the end of the half. Quiniou had rightly extendly the first half to 47:30 (though allowing a Uruguay corner at the end added thirty extra seconds).
At this point it is worth noting that FIFA had instructed refs to keep additional time to a real minimum at this World Cup, with any protesting referees adding over a minute numbering very sparsely indeed. Given the guidelines, even three minutes would have been acceptable (reality was probably 9/10mins extra).
Pitifully, Quiniou blew at 91:00... given everything that Uruguay had done to destroy this match and delay the restart, the calling of the game this prematurely was very disappointing indeed from my end. On the other hand, the referee had visibly tired (understandably!) and did want to follow FIFA's order too.
Linesmen
Colombia's Jesús Díaz faced a very important decision when he disallowed a Scotland goal in the fifty-third minute [21:30]. Just a shame that we can't assess it then! The live sequence jumps from a close-up of the freekick late, and no replay was shown.
Showing how understated this scene was, ITV didn't even show a replay themselves in the post-match analysis. Quiniou was certainly taken by surprise by the freekick's quick taking, and if Díaz was too, I could easily believe that the flag was wrong. Besides that, the Colombian was largely quiet.
Ali Bennaceur's big decision was to not give Scotland a goal at 18' [07:45], rightly so, as the ball had not crossed the line. What ITV's halftime angle showed was that the Tunisian completely guessed (!), as he didn't shimmy rightward at all to help determine whether the ball would cross or not.
Showing how understated this scene was, ITV didn't even show a replay themselves in the post-match analysis. Quiniou was certainly taken by surprise by the freekick's quick taking, and if Díaz was too, I could easily believe that the flag was wrong. Besides that, the Colombian was largely quiet.
Ali Bennaceur's big decision was to not give Scotland a goal at 18' [07:45], rightly so, as the ball had not crossed the line. What ITV's halftime angle showed was that the Tunisian completely guessed (!), as he didn't shimmy rightward at all to help determine whether the ball would cross or not.
A bit ironic somehow, because besides that, Bennaceur worked more closely to a specialist linesman (compliment) than most in Mexico. Signalling fouls and taking the iniative in his vicinity, Tunisia's official did a good job standing in this tie.
It is hard really to assess Marco Dorantes García's work as a reserve linesman (fourth official), but when we did see him, the Mexican looked proactive and appeared to discharge his responsibilities well.
Aftermath
Scotland finished bottom of the group and were eliminated. Uruguay came third in Group E by virtue of this point, and set up a Plata River derby in the round of sixteen against Argentina, as aforementioned under the threat of FIFA expulsion if they continued the extent of gamesmanship displayed in this match.
Joël Quiniou was not appointed again in any role at this tournament. As France reached the quarterfinal, we can't really make any judgement about Quiniou's absense from the last eight onwards. However, maybe his absence from the second round games does say something.
Alexis Ponnet, who displayed very strong skills in Denmark vs. West Germany in my opinion (report), was appointed in that round, as linesman. Was Quiniou's performance too weak for FIFA, did they see the RC as too controversial (for a linesman inset?), or was he planned for sth big in case France went out?
Joël Quiniou was not appointed again in any role at this tournament. As France reached the quarterfinal, we can't really make any judgement about Quiniou's absense from the last eight onwards. However, maybe his absence from the second round games does say something.
Alexis Ponnet, who displayed very strong skills in Denmark vs. West Germany in my opinion (report), was appointed in that round, as linesman. Was Quiniou's performance too weak for FIFA, did they see the RC as too controversial (for a linesman inset?), or was he planned for sth big in case France went out?
The flag bearers on this afternoon had convinced FIFA in the group stage and would go on; both were running the line in the R16, before going on to both respectively control a quarterfinal, both quite famously; Jesús Díaz for the hosts date with West Germany, Ali Bennaceur getting the 'Falklands' derby.
Dorantes García would go on to work as reserve linesman in two of the most notable knockout stage assignments, the classic Brazil vs. France, in addition to France vs. West Germany in the semifinal. A serious figure who commanded respect, Dorantes García's work as fourth man was appreciated by FIFA.
Balance
The earliness of José Batista ejection, at fifty-two seconds, will probably never be beaten - Joël Quiniou had the guts to distinguish himself from the crowd, and made a remarkable and, for my money, excellent decision to eject the Uruguay defender, come what may. A decision which I think deserves our respect.
As he would show in later World Cups, Quiniou was a very good referee - there was much to like about this performance. In very tough circumstances, his showing was satisfying, while sporting relatively significant deficiencies at the same time. He certainly did better than most would have in 1986.
If we summarise the biggest shortfall of a decent performance, it would be that the French referee lacked the inter-personal charisma to try and control Uruguay's excesses a bit more, both in terms of player interactions and decisions too.
Swapping the Group E final assignments would have been perfect in my opinion - Quiniou would have been perfectly suited to a not-easy Denmark vs. West Germany, and I'd have been fascinated to see how complete no-nonsense Alexis Ponnet would have solved this sudden-death tie.
As he would show in later World Cups, Quiniou was a very good referee - there was much to like about this performance. In very tough circumstances, his showing was satisfying, while sporting relatively significant deficiencies at the same time. He certainly did better than most would have in 1986.
If we summarise the biggest shortfall of a decent performance, it would be that the French referee lacked the inter-personal charisma to try and control Uruguay's excesses a bit more, both in terms of player interactions and decisions too.
Swapping the Group E final assignments would have been perfect in my opinion - Quiniou would have been perfectly suited to a not-easy Denmark vs. West Germany, and I'd have been fascinated to see how complete no-nonsense Alexis Ponnet would have solved this sudden-death tie.
The areas in which the Frenchman fell a bit short were not his fault so much, but ones of assigning - any young debutant referee would have struggled here, also knowing his personal strengths vs. weaknesses too. It was a quite unfair appointment for this young WC debutant (made before a ball kicked), really.
So, Quiniou probably did about as well he conceivably could have. The red card was excellent, and the rest was okay - looking back, the French referee should be pretty satisfied with his performance all things considered. In any case, most certainly, this courageous record shouldn't be taken from him any time soon!
| Joël Quiniou (FRA) Jesús Díaz (COL) Ali Bennaceur (TUN) Marco Dorantes García (MEX) Officials | Scotland 0-0 Uruguay Group Stage Fri 13 June (1200local) at Neza MC |
 Cabrera (32') - Challenge Diogo (72') - Delaying the Restart Álvez (87') - Delaying the Restart | Narey (49') - Tackle Nicol (63') - Challenge |
 Batista (1') - Serious Foul Play |
