Ivan
06-23-2000, 08:43 AM
Well I was planning on making a much longer rant column, but now as I sit down to write it - I'm just not in the mood.
All I'm going to say is that Gilles Veissiere basically gave Spain the game. 90% of the calls went against us (and this I count the "no-calls", the fouls that should have been called on Spain but weren't). The sending of was a total joke, but it wasn't that much better then the Kezman send off. Half of the yellow cards were questionable and if we weren't Serbs we would have laughed our @sses off when we saw the "penalty call". This was even worse then the Holland-Czech call! And that call was in the 89th minute! This one was in the 93rd! REDICILOUS!
And 9 minutes of extra time instead of 5??? First of all why 5 in the first place? 3 or 4 would have been fair to me but 5? and then plus 4? I guess when the fan ran out, the ref got so scared and traumatized that he lost complete sense of reality and time.
If Spain hadn't scored I wonder how much longer he would have extended the game?
Anyway, call me a whiner and what-not but facts are facts. No objective observer would be able to admit that the ref was fair! I'm not saying there was a "conspiracy theory" against us to make us lose, but he wasn't 100% fair either!
And here is just a little interesting fact that I found out searching Euro2000's official site (btw, that site is packed with info!!!!)
Games that Gilles Veissiere has refereed with Yugoslav teams:
15.07.95 In Leverkusen, Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs FK Buducnost Podgorica 2-0 (Intertoto Cup)
30.07.97 In Zagreb, NK Croatia Zagreb vs FK Partizan Belgrade 5-0 (UEFA Champions League)
21.06.00 In Bruges, Spain vs Yugoslavia 4-3 (EURO 2000 Group Stage)
Hmmmmmm, statistics have a funny way of showing things don't they? I'm not trying to say anything, but so far our teams don't have a good record when Veissiere is the referee. It's like having Kim Nielsen referee a match when you play Germany!
Again, I repeat - I don't think there is a conspiracy, but it is obvious for whom the referee's are "pulling" for! Twelve out of thirteen referees picked for this tournament are from Western Europe (the only other one is from Egypt!!). So there is no denying that in Western Europe there exists an animosity towards the Serbs and it grows to establish a little prejudice. So perhaps nobody in UEFA said to the referees - "make sure that Yugoslavia don't win", but maybe Veissiere was just a little on "Spain" sides. For him, not much depended on the outcome of the game, but just perhaps he fancied Spain winning over us.
Heh, what do you know, I actually wrote a fair bit! :)
All I'm going to say is that Gilles Veissiere basically gave Spain the game. 90% of the calls went against us (and this I count the "no-calls", the fouls that should have been called on Spain but weren't). The sending of was a total joke, but it wasn't that much better then the Kezman send off. Half of the yellow cards were questionable and if we weren't Serbs we would have laughed our @sses off when we saw the "penalty call". This was even worse then the Holland-Czech call! And that call was in the 89th minute! This one was in the 93rd! REDICILOUS!
And 9 minutes of extra time instead of 5??? First of all why 5 in the first place? 3 or 4 would have been fair to me but 5? and then plus 4? I guess when the fan ran out, the ref got so scared and traumatized that he lost complete sense of reality and time.
If Spain hadn't scored I wonder how much longer he would have extended the game?
Anyway, call me a whiner and what-not but facts are facts. No objective observer would be able to admit that the ref was fair! I'm not saying there was a "conspiracy theory" against us to make us lose, but he wasn't 100% fair either!
And here is just a little interesting fact that I found out searching Euro2000's official site (btw, that site is packed with info!!!!)
Games that Gilles Veissiere has refereed with Yugoslav teams:
15.07.95 In Leverkusen, Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs FK Buducnost Podgorica 2-0 (Intertoto Cup)
30.07.97 In Zagreb, NK Croatia Zagreb vs FK Partizan Belgrade 5-0 (UEFA Champions League)
21.06.00 In Bruges, Spain vs Yugoslavia 4-3 (EURO 2000 Group Stage)
Hmmmmmm, statistics have a funny way of showing things don't they? I'm not trying to say anything, but so far our teams don't have a good record when Veissiere is the referee. It's like having Kim Nielsen referee a match when you play Germany!
Again, I repeat - I don't think there is a conspiracy, but it is obvious for whom the referee's are "pulling" for! Twelve out of thirteen referees picked for this tournament are from Western Europe (the only other one is from Egypt!!). So there is no denying that in Western Europe there exists an animosity towards the Serbs and it grows to establish a little prejudice. So perhaps nobody in UEFA said to the referees - "make sure that Yugoslavia don't win", but maybe Veissiere was just a little on "Spain" sides. For him, not much depended on the outcome of the game, but just perhaps he fancied Spain winning over us.
Heh, what do you know, I actually wrote a fair bit! :)