World Cup referees blindly follow letter of the law and lack passion

TO watch the refereeing at the World Cup is of double interest to me because later it will be used as a model for what happens in the national premier leagues.

In Germany, the referees are not forgiving of players' mistakes; they rule strictly and in a formal sense they're almost always right.

But sometimes this doesn't help football as a spectator sport.

For example, if I were the referee in the Spain v Ukraine match when the score was 2-0, I wouldn't have given that penalty (let alone the red card to the player whose foul wasn't at all blatant, in fact it wasn't even obvious). For me it would be much more interesting to see if the Ukrainian side could wake from their slumbers and give their opponents a good fight later in the game. But when it went 3-0 to Spain, this became impossible.

It was even worse in the Germany v Poland match. It's a real pity when a team plays well but one mistake by a player - and again not a grave one - spoils it all. The game was won by the Germans, but for me a more logical and fair outcome would be a draw.

I would say the referees in the World Cup so far give no reason to doubt their skills and I can't say - despite the examples I've mentioned - that I saw many bad misjudgements from their side.

They follow the rules scrupulously as well as FIFA's recommendations, but sometimes they forget that this game is played for the fans, for the people who watch it.

In a rule book sense they were right, but from my point of view the utmost art of refereeing is to really feel the nerve of the game and not to spoil it by blindly following the letter of the football law.

There were a lot of arguments about a hand ball in the France v Switzerland game. It was probably an episode worthy of dispute but I believe the ideal is that teams should fight to the end and not rely upon penalties and opponents' red cards to decide the fate of the match.

As a football fan I don't enjoy it when this happens. Had the penalty been awarded, the French team would have gone on to achieve a win they didn't truly deserve. Instead, the game continued with 0-0 as the score with chances for both sides and a real contest for the fans. There are no grounds at all to suspect that the referees at the World Cup are poorly qualified or biased.

But I would like to see a more considered attitude to such radical and ultimate measures as penalties and red cards. I'd prefer not to watch more games where all my interest in what's happening on the pitch is killed with one single - and not so obvious mistake - by a player. In the Germany v Poland match it left me guessing which of these two teams is really the stronger one.

The Spaniards, on the other hand, fully deserved their win. The Ukrainians looked shaky throughout the game. Still, as I watched it, I was left with a feeling of disappointment when the penalty and red card made the outcome absolutely clear long before the final whistle.

The week also saw England's second game and contrary to the view of many commentators concerning their performance, I quite liked the way they played. Their captain David Beckham has shown he hasn't lost any of his skills whatever they say about him turning into an advertising icon. To me, Peter Crouch was just unbelievable. When he scored, I expected him to show us his trademark robot dance. We haven't seen it so far at the World Cup - but I'm sure he'll soon have reasons to strut his stuff in Germany.

I consider his goal against Trinidad and Tobago to be one of the best of the World Cup so far. It was a supergoal and a superb build up.

I remember Crouch from his competitive debut for Liverpool in the Champions' League qualifier in my home city of Kaunas last July. The 6ft 7inch striker impressed me then - and now I see my initial instinct was dead right. He is rapidly becoming a shining star in European and world football.

Another thing was clear too from the England game. Whenever opponents forget about Steven Gerrard it ends very badly for them. Note that I'm talking about these two men from Liverpool - the spirit of that great club helped the England team and proved they can do it even if Rooney is not back to his best. Despite a slow start, I expect this team to achieve a lot at this World Cup.

To me, Ecuador and Ivory Coast were the other two teams who showed themselves capable of high quality football; the former is progressing strongly, the latter bowed out of the tournament after their defeat to Holland. My main disappointment this week was Ukraine's performance and their complete lack of concentration in their game.

I know everyone has expected a lot from the top stars of European football - like Henry and Ronaldinho.

It seems they need more time to begin showing their best. The impression is they were rushed into their national teams after gruelling seasons in Spain and England.

After watching some quite good games I still think the major football powers are not playing to their best standards.

There is little deep passion, nor real struggle, like we saw in the earlier Argentina v Ivory Coast confrontation.

That one was full of tension. In most other games the teams have shown cautious football, as if they're saving their energy for future battles.

I'm sure the best matches at this World Cup are still to come.

Taken from the Scotsman