The brand new UEFA Nations League has started now as well for the English and Spanish national team, who have met yesterday at Wembley Stadium in an exciting and interesting game. The referee appointed for this clash was Danny Makkelie from the Netherlands. The 35-year-old has been promoted to the UEFA Elite Group in June 2017 and has overseen five UEFA Champions League fixtures in the past season (including the Barcelona vs. Roma quarterfinal). We are now going to have a look at yesterday's performance of the Dutchman.
At the beginning of the game, it was very obvious that players of both squads mainly focused on playing football, which allowed the referee to remain in the background throughout most of the game. Nevertheless, Danny Makkelie intervened in play when it was necessary, such as in the 18th minute of the game, when Jordan Henderson correctly received the first yellow card of the game after a foul on Marcos Alonso, which Makkelie assessed as SPA (stopping a promising attack).
The next moment where Danny Makkelie was challenged occurred in the 24th minute, when Harry Kane goes to the ground inside the penalty area after being attacked by Saul Ñiguez and Dani Carvajal. The referee immediately signalled to play-on and indicates that the ball has been played and therefore no penalty has been awarded. Again a correct decision by the Dutchman, there is no contact whatsoever on Kane, one can see that the ball has been played.
In the 30th minute, Kieran Trippier was very lucky to escape a yellow card after a nasty foul on Marcos Alonso. Danny Makkelie chose to give a verbal warning to the English player, however, a yellow card should have been brandished here, due to the reckless nature of the tackle. Thankfully, eleven minutes later, the referee was able to recognize the reckless nature of Luke Shaw's tackle on Carvajal, by issuing a yellow card to the Englishman.
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| Danny Makkelie shows a yellow card to John Stones. |
The second half started with the long injury break of Luke Shaw and after that the game remained very calm during a long time. However, in the 66th minute of the game, Danny Makkelie had to face a very interesting situation: while Rodrigo is running on goal, he is taken to the ground by John Stones, who receives a yellow card by the referee. This situation is interesting in a couple of ways. First, was it really a foul? The answer to that question is rather no, as Stones clearly plays the ball. Second, if the referee gives the foul, which card colour should he issue? The yellow card means that the referee assessed it as SPA (stopping a promising attack), however the red card would have been a serious option as well for DOGSO (denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity): Rodrigo had the ball under control, he was going to the goal and could have scored from his position. Something that could have influenced the referee's decision here to give a yellow card only is the direction of the ball, which is not going straight to the goal.
The referee issued two further yellow cards after this situation: one in the 83rd minute for Dani Carvajal for persistently infringing the Laws of the Game and in the 90+4' minute to Danny Rose after a reckless tackle.
In the 90+7' minute, Makkelie had to make a very crucial call, which very likely happened in cooperation with his additional assistant referee on that side, Jochem Kamphuis. The Spanish keeper David de Gea jumps up and gets the ball, but while landing, the collides with Danny Welbeck. De Gea, loses the ball, Welbeck scored. The challenged happened in the goal area and the referee decided that Welbeck attacked the keeper, a decision which is more than supportable. Therefore, the disallowed goal for England is absolutely correct.
Both assistant referees, Hessel Steegstra and Mario Diks, did also a good job in their game. AR2 (Diks) made a very good onside call in the 32nd minute, when Spain scored the second goal. He recognized that Rodrigo came from behind at the moment the ball was played, and was therefore not in an offside position. Well done!
Overall, Danny Makkelie made a very positive impression in a match with two high-profile teams and high-profile players. He had a very calm self-presentation and body language throughout the entire game, he had was always friendly to the players on the pitch, which gave him a high level of acceptance. Furthermore, he had a very good reading of the game as he managed to give a couple of advantages in both halves. Danny Makkelie delivered a very encouraging performance for his future as a referee and hopefully he can keep up the level of refereeing he's presented yesterday at Wembley Stadium.
