Seeing Red

Apart from the poor performances from England & France, the level of refs at the WC also leaves a lot to be desired. Not surprising really when Fifa recruit refs from Uzbekistan, Mali and the Seychelles!!

Many of these refs have shown themselves to be very trigger-happy with their cards, racking up some ridiculous stats. Nine days into the WC and we've already had as many red cards - 9 averaging one for every 3 games! Refs have also dished out an astonishing 111 yellow cards!

The worst effected teams have been the Socceroos with 2 reds/ 4 yellows & their group rivals Serbia with 1 red/ 8 yellows. The game with the most cards so far, was Germany Vs Serbia with 1 red and 8 yellows!

Harry Kewell received the fastest red card so far, 24mins into the Ghana game on Saturday night. While Kaka took the record last night for the least time between bookings with 2 yellows and a red in 3mins!

It's easy to give out about the referees and obviously a lot of the bookings were warranted. But their split-second decisions have been off the mark, inconsistent & have made a massive impact on games for the wrong reasons. I hope Fifa intervene and get it sorted before the knockout stages.

*Update: 11 days - 11 Red cards!