January 3, 2023 • 26 mins
A defense of referees, through the lens of the game with the most cards in World Cup history: Portugal - Netherlands in 2006.
This episode will convince you of two things you absolutely do not want to believe. The first: Referees are good, actually. Secondly, red cards are more exciting than goals. To persuade you, let’s look at the game with the most red cards in World Cup history: Portugal versus the Netherlands in the 2006 World Cup. 16 yellows, 4 reds, 2 melees, uncounted crates of champagne, a Guinness World Record, a PhD in pedagogy, an almighty brouhaha, and a partridge in a pear tree.
The Best Soccer Podcast In The World is a bilingual podcast that tells your soon-to-be favorite soccer stories. The host, Nando Vila, will crack open some of the most iconic World Cup moments, putting them in cultural and geopolitical contexts. From legendary players to silly hairdos to heart-wrenching losses.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Today, I am going to convince you of two things
you absolutely do not want to believe. The first, referees
are good. Actually, but when I look at referees and
the track record they have of getting things right, I
think it's just phenomenal that a human being can, for
ninety minutes, get that many things right of interfering with play. Okay,
(00:26):
I have off side, Thank you, Tidy. Hey, what are
you doing by If it's your free kicks the bowl?
If it's not your free kick, move away, Tom, It's
an easy yaw. And your second new belief, starting approximately
half an hour from now, is that red cards are
more exciting than goals. It's a yellow card. Wait a minute,
(00:48):
he's taking another card out for bacam. It's a red card.
It's pushing and shoving and arguing. A yellow card to chatty,
admit the mela. To convince you, let's look at the
game with the most red cards in World Cup history.
(01:10):
It got a thank you dot coast. It is at
Lastia Portugal versus the Netherlands in the two thousand and
six World Cup, sixteen yellows, four reds to Melee's uncounted
crates of Champagne a Guinness World Record, a PhD in petagogy,
(01:32):
an almighty bruhaha, and a partridge in a pear tree.
I'm Nando Vila and this is the best soccer podcast
in the worlds were then, but it's still live, Christiano Ronaldo.
(01:55):
Yes oh yea four A m April four people of
(02:25):
the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg in the Holy Roman
Empire awoke to a space battle playing out across the dawn.
Two blood red semicircle arcs lights glimmered and shot across
the sky. UFOs danced in front of the sun space orbs.
They fell to the earth in a cloud of smoke.
A large black triangle appeared. Sights and wonders. Ten days later,
(02:51):
Hans Glazer recorded it in a woodcutting. These were like
early broadsheets. They often recounted astrological mystery ease which primitive
humans could not grasp. The whole event was most likely
a SunDog or a part helia, which are halos of
sunlight caused by refraction in ice crystals in the atmosphere,
(03:12):
especially when the sun is near the horizon. It became
known as the Battle of Nuremberg. Nine pm June and
six Franken Stadion, Nuremberg. The World Cup slogan that year
(03:32):
was a time to make friends. The match that day
set records for total cards and for the most red
cards in World Cup history. I think it's fair to
say no one made any new pals. It became known
as the Battle of Nuremberg. Sorry, very unusual and very emotional,
and it's Tory stood out. This is Michael Yoakin, freelance
(03:59):
for the little right cho That's what I do for leaving.
I'm just right about. The World Cup that year was
in Germany, the Holy Roman Empire having long since dissolved.
By two thousand and six. Hey remember two thousand and six,
a little site called twitter dot com launched and rotted
(04:19):
all our brains. Google bought YouTube, Disney bought Pixar. Pluto
was demoted to a dwarf planet. Steve Irwin, the Crocodile
Hunter was killed by a stingray. Dick Cheney shot a
man in the face while quail hunting. You asked for
a wee but got apples to apples on Christmas instead.
Hannah Montana debut on the Disney Channel. George Cluney was
correctly People's sexiest man alive. Shaquira's hips told the absolute
(04:40):
truth while you listened on your Microsoft Zooon MP three player,
Britney spears and kay Fed broke up, Saddam Hussein was hanged,
and Italy won the World Cup. Disney den z Don
closed his playing career by headbutting Marco Madazi in the
chest and silently walking down the tunnel. And perhaps the
most famous red card in soccer history, Marco Matarazi Ye,
(05:04):
it's crushed Bisa Don. But that was two weeks later.
We're still talking about the Round of sixteen here, which
had other red cards, sloppy of red cards, sillier. But
you know, as we know, it's not the size of
the the dog in the fight. It's the fight in
the dog. And there was a lot of fight in
all the dogs as far as I can recall. In
(05:25):
that game. It wasn't in football terms and edifying spectacle,
but it was, my god, it was good to watch
in many other ways because football is about passion, it's
about rivalry, it's about drive and desire to win. And
I think that every now and then this is probably
why people want, you know, they love it. When they
dropped the gloves in hockey and that every now and
(05:46):
then it's nice when we see this is James Richardson,
the host of the Totally Football Show. You know, football
can be quite sanitized, sometimes can be quite professional. So
when it's clear how much passion, how much how much
humanity there is kind of smoldering away under those kind
of polished pr exteriors, I for one, quite like that.
(06:08):
I like a rule. A brawl is exactly what portugal
defender for Anno made. I called it. This was the
last chance for Portugal's Golden generation. A remarkable crop of
incredible players came through the youth system at the same time.
They won back to back Under twenty World Cups in
but by now Luis Figo, their best player, was well
(06:30):
into his mid thirties. Ruey Costa had retired already. Some
new young talents had emerged, like this kid named Cristiano Ronaldo,
then a one. He was a finicky talent, step over happy,
but had something special. I wonder whatever happened to him,
especially given the like's hair of twinkled toes. Ronaldo Portugal
(06:54):
swatted aside the group stages, winning three in a row.
Luis Figer Plezza it's newis Figo, It's Dicko Magniffson. Twenty
one year old Cristiano Ronaldo waits for referee poolas whistle
composes himself and scores. She now took the ball armed
(07:17):
and almen On who was marking Maniche. Nobody are they dancing?
Nice Figo penalty. As for the Netherlands, they invented total
football in the seventies, of fluid system that went down
smooth as orange crush. This was a different Netherlands. The
(07:38):
coach was Michael van Baston, a legendary striker for a C.
Milan and the Dutch national team, who won the Blunder
three times. It's the cars the way to the black posts,
always come for it. When he played for Milan, his
(08:01):
coach was legendary Italian tactician Arrigo Saki. It took Saki
many crates of Champagne to win over snobby Van Basten.
Saki would better create the ten players of Van Baston's
choice couldn't break down four well drilled defenders. If Saki
had called in all his winnings, he'd still be drunk today.
Von Boston, a legendary forward who liked to score goals
(08:22):
absorbed the importance of an organized defense. He had yet
to lose as Netherlands coach, going unbeaten in the group
stages helps Alldix went to Roban, who's called the place
here only the keeper to Bates. Robin opens the Doutcher
cops Van Bessie, you don't score back to goals and
(08:45):
I world up the art two three goalkeepers wouldn't have
kept that one expat van mister Roy star Holland to golf.
To give you an idea of what kind of coach
Van Boston was against portrait goal he benched Rude van Nistelroy,
the ruthless Manchester United striker who had signed for Real
Madrid that summer. For Dirk Cout. Cout made up for
(09:08):
a complete lack of imagination or flair with stamina and effort.
He lived his life permanently panting with puffed red cheeks.
The team was built around a curly haired midfielder named
Mark Vambammel. A time to make friends, you say no
thank you, Sir Van Baummel has never carved out time
for that in his entire life. Two minutes into the game,
(09:29):
Van Bommel set the tone. He hit Ronaldo hard with
a late tackle along the touch line. Yellow card mark
Peter Gertuda. Andreas van Bummel was coming off winning the
La Liga and Champions League double with Barcelona in his
only season there. He learned Spanish in a convent outside
of Eindhoven. But this man was no saint. In its
(09:50):
twenty one year career that spanned league titles in the Netherlands, Spain,
Germany and Italy, Von Baummel picked up thirteen reds, including
one in his final match. He was a dirty player.
This was a dirty Dutch team and we're off to
the races. Five minutes later, Khalid Boolooroo's stamped on Ronaldo's time.
(10:15):
Christiano writhe on the floor and pointed to his leg
so everyone could see where the auri was. Magic spray
and lots of rubbing got him back on the field,
but it was a clear red. Christiano Ronaldo was substituted
after substaining a knee injury from multiple heavy tangles. He
is fighting begnteers, let's help. His faith of world captain
(10:36):
is not over. That was the game in which Khalid
Bolo's was instructed to just injure Cristiano Ronaldo. It was
his mission, and he succeeded in that mission. Medics taped
up Ronaldo's tie a few minutes later. He was clearly
in pain. He was very limited defriender, very physical, tactically
(11:02):
very sound, but well, he couldn't really play football. He
just could all renew its to tackling. His name was
Khalid der Kannibali or Khalid the Cannibal. Once he told
a friend he was sharpening his studs for the upcoming match, quote,
I only want one thing to eat a striker. The
(11:23):
nickname stuck. Boolooroo's preferred to call himself his mother's son.
He grew up in a Moroccan family with eight siblings.
At sixteen, his dad died and he became responsible for
the family financially. In his early playing days, he drove
a VW golf but couldn't afford the gas to keep
it running. Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who made
a record on thirteenth appearance in this game, called Boolooroo's
(11:46):
the type of teammate you want around on the long
nights at training camps. What I'm trying to say is
that he was a complete human being with needs and
desires and terrors and sorrows, but we know him only
as a butcher with a scar down his face, a
knife between his teeth, an insatiable urge to Maime. Boolooroo's
(12:06):
snuck in one more thigh kick and Ronaldo had to
be subbed out sobbing as Seawards replaced him. A year
and a half later, Ronaldo still had the scar. Once
Van Basten asked Boolooroo's if the tactical instructions were clear,
Boolooroo's nodded quote, no mouse gets through boss. There was
no way Ronaldo was going to escape this one unscathed.
(12:30):
They shouldn't do that, and they shouldn't just hunt Cristiano
Ronaldo down until he's injured and substituted. In the first half,
it was just I didn't like it. Portugal hit back,
Moniche got a yellow card for coming through the back
of Van Bommel, who clearly made the most of it.
(12:51):
Then Moniche scored one nail. A proper match was threatening
to break out, but fret not friend. That never happened.
After half an hour, Costna committed to a long sliding
lunge that really he was never going to get the ball.
(13:13):
It looked like slow motion as he slid across the
field and into the referees notebook. A few minutes before
the half, Nuno vain to hit Ry and Robin in
the chest with his studs in the box. The referee
decided to whistle offside rather than deal with all of that.
And then in first half stoppage time, Costna tried to
(13:34):
head the ball, but it's about two ft from his
bald scalp. His hand slaps it instead. He's on the
halfway line. There's really no point, but it's his second yellow,
so we have our first read. Portugal coach we Fiscotatti
draped his hand over the dugout, looking back over his
shoulder and shaking his head. This was Scotti's eleventh World
(13:55):
Cup game. He'd won the previous ten, including the whole
dang turn in two thousand and two with Brazil. His
Portugal team was let's call it less refined. You expect
Portugal to play that way if they loved to play
dirty historically. Halftime, we're at six yellows and one red.
(14:17):
In the second half, Cout had to break away, he
flubbed and Filip Coku hit the post. But the actual
business of trying to get the ball in the net
was the b plot here. The real game was seeing
who could collect the most cards. Minute fifty substitute Pity
touched Van Baumo, who spun wildly to the ground and
sold it yellow. Minute fifty nine, a late Giovanni von
(14:41):
broncors tacle on Deco yellow. In the aftermath, Luis Figo
headbutted Van Baumo behind the referees back. You can see
the pause. Then Van Baumo puts his hand over his
face and collapses to the ground. Yellow. After the game,
Scolatti said, quote, Jesus Christ said he would turn the
other cheek, but Figo is not Jesus Christ. There you
(15:03):
have it. Minute sixty three, Boolooroo's got back at not
Jesus Christ by elbowing Figo on his big honking nose.
Second yellow red. Both benches cleared for the melee, which
is always fun. Andre Oyer had to be held back.
Minute sixty seven, Johnny Hitinga comes on for von Baumbo. Somehow,
(15:24):
against all the odds, von Baumo survived this game without
getting sent off. He finished his international career with seventy
nine appearances, ten goals, tennis sists, thirteen yellows, and because
there is no justice in this dark and cruel world,
zero red cards. Minute seventy three, the Netherlands break an
unwritten rule by refusing to give the ball back. Portugal
(15:46):
had had to put it out a bounce so a
player could receive medical treatment. Deako comes streaming in foot
at knee height and smacks Johnny Hitinga's trailing foot. He
ting A sores through the air in a gorgeous ark.
Yellow Petite was leaning over hy Tinga, who was crumped
on the floor, to scream at him for not giving
the ball back, so Wesley Schneider bundled him over. Yellow
(16:09):
Raphael Vandervart got booked in the aftermath as players crowded around.
I have no idea what exactly for one match report
called it, apparently for descent yellow. Minutes seventy six, Portuguese
goalkeeper Gottao got booked for well, let's just say the
ref was trigger happy at this point. Match report quote
presumably for time wasting. That same minute, valent is stuck
(16:33):
in a nice slack on the back of Van Percy's ankles.
Minute seventy eight that Goes scooped up the ball and
refused to give it back for the Netherlands to take
their free kick. Cuckoo spun him around to the ground.
That goes second yellow red. For some reason, Goku wasn't booked.
I mean, I'm unclear why Scotti is gesturing and screaming
at the ref. Von Boston looks like his brain has
(16:55):
shorted out. He's just standing still, eyes darting around while
he keeps rubbing his nose with two fingers. Minute Van
Bronkhorst is trying to start a counter attack when Manita
scoops the ball away. Von Bonkhorse then clatters into him,
second yellow red. Von Boston is still holding his face,
just staring and not moving. He said there was no
(17:17):
soccer played in the second half. When Von Boston went
to shakes scare at his hand, the Brazilian was too
busy dancing and waving the Portuguese flag in the middle
of the field. The lasting image of this game is
of the ejected Van Bronkhors and Deco sitting on the
steps next to each other, gesturing and bitching about the referee. Together,
(17:41):
Barcelona teammates international rivals united in their hatred of the referee.
It's what binds us all together, really, common enemies. Many
across the globe picked the same villain. The l A
Times called the refereeing atrocious, pitiful. It called the two
thousand and six World Cup irrevocably tainted. Van Vasten said
(18:02):
quote the referee made a mess of it. He called
the game chaos. After the final whistle, Marcel and the
teammates Diko and Van Bronk post was vaunted Ravelina did
next to each other on the sidelines, wondering wont had
Jude happens. FIFA president step Bladder said the ref wasn't
(18:22):
at the same level as the players and suggested he
should give himself a yellow card. Van Instilroy said the
referee was permanently holding up a card and seemed determined
to book everybody. The New York Times called him petty.
Ronaldo said the referee shouldn't get any more games in
the World Cup, and well he didn't, So who was
this referee that everyone hated? Valentine Ivanov was a forty
(18:46):
four year old music teacher from Moscow. His parents had
met as teenagers at the nineteen fifty six Olympics, where
they each won gold. His father, Valentine cosmics Ivanov, went
out to finish as a joint top score of the
nineteen sixty two World Cup and won the eurosy He
(19:10):
later coached Torpedo Moscow to a league title. Yes, that's
a real team name son Valentine Valentinovich Ivanov was also
a striker for Torpedo Moscow and reached the final of
the Soviet Cup. Then Junior went into refereeing. This was
his last World Cup before aging out at forty five.
He said this game, the Battle of Nuremberg, was the
(19:30):
toughest of his career in terms of rudeness. Actually, Ivanov
was criticized for his performance, but I thought that he
was handed an absolutely impossible tasking that game at he
and he actually had a good game. All the players
who were sent off dissolved to be set. Twitter hadn't
taken off yet, so people on the internet started websites
(19:52):
arguing the pros and cons of Junior's continued existence. Debating
the merits, Ivanov joked that he would go into politics.
His father stood up for him, pointing out that FIFA
had asked referees to be stricter. The two thousand and
sixth tournament finished with a record high of three and
forty five yellow cards and twenty eight reds. Ivanov's mother
had the more emotional defense. Her son speaks perfect English,
(20:14):
he has a PhD in pedagogy. Quote, but his father
dragged him into football. With that, my life came to
an end, pic dramatic. What I'm trying to say is
that he was a complete human being with needs and
desires and terrors and sorrows. Even if he's not the
best referee in history. He's not, But you know, I
(20:35):
think even the best referee ever wouldn't have been able
to handle that game properly because some of the players
took that filled in order to kick and injure other players.
So who was that fault for how the game turned out?
Ivanov himself said it's hard to determine why a game
(20:56):
suddenly becomes so rough quote, but happens. He added that
the Portuguese game plan was expected. The Dutch surprised him,
but the Dutch, the Dutch, I not like that. And
the very fact that Marco van Boston, of all people,
he was the coach and he was such an elegant striker.
(21:19):
Van Boston accomplished everything in his short playing career besides
winning the Ballondor thrice. He won the Euros, two European
Cups and three Syria titles. He retired at twenty eight
from injuries. The fact that Marco van Boston decided to
send out his prayers in order to injure opponents, it's
(21:42):
just disgusting. It's the fact that Marco van Boston became
such a cynical and negative coach. It was very, very
very disappointed, because really really disappointed. After the game, both
Mark van Bamble and Rude Venus to Roy refused to
play for Van Boston. Ever again, Ronaldo said of the
fouls had clearly been intended to injure him. FIFA talks
(22:04):
about fair play that he said there was no fair play.
The game finished with sixteen yellows and four reds, a
World Cup record, and just think how many more there
would have been if Pippe had earned his Portuguese citizenship
a year earlier. In the same World Cup, English referee
Graham Paul gave a Croatian player three yellow cards before
(22:25):
sending him off. Joseph Simnich referee mistakes stand out. We
tend to talk about any other aspect of the game
if it's well refed. Firstly, I take a positive view
of the referees. I cannot conceive. I mean I think
I can. I think I can conceive of how difficult
it is to be a referee, or particularly alignsman. But
I know that I can't because what I think of
(22:46):
the difficulty is if I was ever placed in that
situation for really, even for five minutes, given a linesman's job,
and told to try and make important decisions which other
people are going to be relying on. The ignomint is
going to follow swiftly on my heels if I dare
to make a mistake, I cannot conceive of how difficult
that is. And I know they get things wrong. Ivanov's
(23:09):
mother agrees, But when I look at referees and the
track record they have of getting things right, I think
it's just phenomenal that a human being can, for ninety
minutes get that many things right. They get some stuff wrong,
but go back years and watch some of the decisions then,
and oh my word, I want to talk about something else.
Everyone complained about Ivanov's performance, but this game freaking rocked.
(23:33):
I mean, everyone likes goals, the whoosh of the ball
in the net, the eruption of a yell in our
throat before you fully register what's actually happened, the surge
in the crowd, the moment the players drop their guard
and hug each other like tizzy little children. But you
(23:53):
know what's more rare than goals, red cards. More than
even a goal, a red drastically alters the match. You've
got to play. With one fewer human on your team,
you will almost certainly lose. We should hold the beloved
red card in a place of honor, cherish them. Listen.
I get it. If you're Dutcher Portuguese, this game was bullshit.
(24:13):
But if you're from one of two other national confederations
that FIFA recognizes, holy held this game was fun. Our
primitive brains could barely grasp it. Sits and wonders. But
I think on the occasions that it's touched my own
kind of that I've had skin in the game. I mean,
you just move on, because the other thing about football
is that next week there'll be a fresh story. Next week.
(24:37):
You might win next week. I don't know, It's just
a sport that continually renews. The Netherlands went on to
make the final in the following World Cup, two ten.
They're famously Nigel de Gng pleaded cha in the chest.
He's looking could have been a red card, probably should
have been. No attempt to play the ball at all,
(24:58):
that's mu to the chest. Portugal went on to win
the Euros because here's the man, there's one of the
Unitade Chaptian ship. So the referee isn't something that I
fixate on. Yeah, and I salute them because, as I say,
I cannot conceive of how difficult it is what they do.
(25:19):
And I think of all the incredible people, the incredible performance,
the incredible talents that we see in football. Possibly referees
are among the best. In the Guinness Book of World Records.
The game with the most red cards came in the
Argentine Fifth Division, a two thousand eleven match deteriorated into
a full fledged bench clearing brawl. Fans even joined in
(25:43):
the fighting. The referee sent off all two players, plus
fourteen subs and coaches, thirty six red cards in total.
Sites and wonders, no one cares how many goals were scored.
The Best Soccer Podcasts in the World is a production
of Exiled Content Studios in partnership with I Hearts Michael
(26:04):
podcast Network and is hosted by Men Devila, produced by
Anna and Zach Lee Rigg, Written by Zach Lee Rigg.
Production assistants by Stella Emmett. Our executive producers are Isaac
Lee Rose Reed and myself Named Avila. Our executive producers
that I Heart are Gisel Bances and Arlene Santana. Sound
designed by Are Awesome. Theme song is by lu j
(26:30):
Special thanks to all the voices who participated in this episode,
Michael Yelkin and James Richardson. For more podcasts, listen to
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Today, I am going to convince you of two things
you absolutely do not want to believe. The first, referees
are good. Actually, but when I look at referees and
the track record they have of getting things right, I
think it's just phenomenal that a human being can, for
ninety minutes, get that many things right of interfering with play. Okay,
(00:26):
I have off side, Thank you, Tidy. Hey, what are
you doing by If it's your free kicks the bowl?
If it's not your free kick, move away, Tom, It's
an easy yaw. And your second new belief, starting approximately
half an hour from now, is that red cards are
more exciting than goals. It's a yellow card. Wait a minute,
(00:48):
he's taking another card out for bacam. It's a red card.
It's pushing and shoving and arguing. A yellow card to chatty,
admit the mela. To convince you, let's look at the
game with the most red cards in World Cup history.
(01:10):
It got a thank you dot coast. It is at
Lastia Portugal versus the Netherlands in the two thousand and
six World Cup, sixteen yellows, four reds to Melee's uncounted
crates of Champagne a Guinness World Record, a PhD in petagogy,
(01:32):
an almighty bruhaha, and a partridge in a pear tree.
I'm Nando Vila and this is the best soccer podcast
in the worlds were then, but it's still live, Christiano Ronaldo.
(01:55):
Yes oh yea four A m April four people of
(02:25):
the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg in the Holy Roman
Empire awoke to a space battle playing out across the dawn.
Two blood red semicircle arcs lights glimmered and shot across
the sky. UFOs danced in front of the sun space orbs.
They fell to the earth in a cloud of smoke.
A large black triangle appeared. Sights and wonders. Ten days later,
(02:51):
Hans Glazer recorded it in a woodcutting. These were like
early broadsheets. They often recounted astrological mystery ease which primitive
humans could not grasp. The whole event was most likely
a SunDog or a part helia, which are halos of
sunlight caused by refraction in ice crystals in the atmosphere,
(03:12):
especially when the sun is near the horizon. It became
known as the Battle of Nuremberg. Nine pm June and
six Franken Stadion, Nuremberg. The World Cup slogan that year
(03:32):
was a time to make friends. The match that day
set records for total cards and for the most red
cards in World Cup history. I think it's fair to
say no one made any new pals. It became known
as the Battle of Nuremberg. Sorry, very unusual and very emotional,
and it's Tory stood out. This is Michael Yoakin, freelance
(03:59):
for the little right cho That's what I do for leaving.
I'm just right about. The World Cup that year was
in Germany, the Holy Roman Empire having long since dissolved.
By two thousand and six. Hey remember two thousand and six,
a little site called twitter dot com launched and rotted
(04:19):
all our brains. Google bought YouTube, Disney bought Pixar. Pluto
was demoted to a dwarf planet. Steve Irwin, the Crocodile
Hunter was killed by a stingray. Dick Cheney shot a
man in the face while quail hunting. You asked for
a wee but got apples to apples on Christmas instead.
Hannah Montana debut on the Disney Channel. George Cluney was
correctly People's sexiest man alive. Shaquira's hips told the absolute
(04:40):
truth while you listened on your Microsoft Zooon MP three player,
Britney spears and kay Fed broke up, Saddam Hussein was hanged,
and Italy won the World Cup. Disney den z Don
closed his playing career by headbutting Marco Madazi in the
chest and silently walking down the tunnel. And perhaps the
most famous red card in soccer history, Marco Matarazi Ye,
(05:04):
it's crushed Bisa Don. But that was two weeks later.
We're still talking about the Round of sixteen here, which
had other red cards, sloppy of red cards, sillier. But
you know, as we know, it's not the size of
the the dog in the fight. It's the fight in
the dog. And there was a lot of fight in
all the dogs as far as I can recall. In
(05:25):
that game. It wasn't in football terms and edifying spectacle,
but it was, my god, it was good to watch
in many other ways because football is about passion, it's
about rivalry, it's about drive and desire to win. And
I think that every now and then this is probably
why people want, you know, they love it. When they
dropped the gloves in hockey and that every now and
(05:46):
then it's nice when we see this is James Richardson,
the host of the Totally Football Show. You know, football
can be quite sanitized, sometimes can be quite professional. So
when it's clear how much passion, how much how much
humanity there is kind of smoldering away under those kind
of polished pr exteriors, I for one, quite like that.
(06:08):
I like a rule. A brawl is exactly what portugal
defender for Anno made. I called it. This was the
last chance for Portugal's Golden generation. A remarkable crop of
incredible players came through the youth system at the same time.
They won back to back Under twenty World Cups in
but by now Luis Figo, their best player, was well
(06:30):
into his mid thirties. Ruey Costa had retired already. Some
new young talents had emerged, like this kid named Cristiano Ronaldo,
then a one. He was a finicky talent, step over happy,
but had something special. I wonder whatever happened to him,
especially given the like's hair of twinkled toes. Ronaldo Portugal
(06:54):
swatted aside the group stages, winning three in a row.
Luis Figer Plezza it's newis Figo, It's Dicko Magniffson. Twenty
one year old Cristiano Ronaldo waits for referee poolas whistle
composes himself and scores. She now took the ball armed
(07:17):
and almen On who was marking Maniche. Nobody are they dancing?
Nice Figo penalty. As for the Netherlands, they invented total
football in the seventies, of fluid system that went down
smooth as orange crush. This was a different Netherlands. The
(07:38):
coach was Michael van Baston, a legendary striker for a C.
Milan and the Dutch national team, who won the Blunder
three times. It's the cars the way to the black posts,
always come for it. When he played for Milan, his
(08:01):
coach was legendary Italian tactician Arrigo Saki. It took Saki
many crates of Champagne to win over snobby Van Basten.
Saki would better create the ten players of Van Baston's
choice couldn't break down four well drilled defenders. If Saki
had called in all his winnings, he'd still be drunk today.
Von Boston, a legendary forward who liked to score goals
(08:22):
absorbed the importance of an organized defense. He had yet
to lose as Netherlands coach, going unbeaten in the group
stages helps Alldix went to Roban, who's called the place
here only the keeper to Bates. Robin opens the Doutcher
cops Van Bessie, you don't score back to goals and
(08:45):
I world up the art two three goalkeepers wouldn't have
kept that one expat van mister Roy star Holland to golf.
To give you an idea of what kind of coach
Van Boston was against portrait goal he benched Rude van Nistelroy,
the ruthless Manchester United striker who had signed for Real
Madrid that summer. For Dirk Cout. Cout made up for
(09:08):
a complete lack of imagination or flair with stamina and effort.
He lived his life permanently panting with puffed red cheeks.
The team was built around a curly haired midfielder named
Mark Vambammel. A time to make friends, you say no
thank you, Sir Van Baummel has never carved out time
for that in his entire life. Two minutes into the game,
(09:29):
Van Bommel set the tone. He hit Ronaldo hard with
a late tackle along the touch line. Yellow card mark
Peter Gertuda. Andreas van Bummel was coming off winning the
La Liga and Champions League double with Barcelona in his
only season there. He learned Spanish in a convent outside
of Eindhoven. But this man was no saint. In its
(09:50):
twenty one year career that spanned league titles in the Netherlands, Spain,
Germany and Italy, Von Baummel picked up thirteen reds, including
one in his final match. He was a dirty player.
This was a dirty Dutch team and we're off to
the races. Five minutes later, Khalid Boolooroo's stamped on Ronaldo's time.
(10:15):
Christiano writhe on the floor and pointed to his leg
so everyone could see where the auri was. Magic spray
and lots of rubbing got him back on the field,
but it was a clear red. Christiano Ronaldo was substituted
after substaining a knee injury from multiple heavy tangles. He
is fighting begnteers, let's help. His faith of world captain
(10:36):
is not over. That was the game in which Khalid
Bolo's was instructed to just injure Cristiano Ronaldo. It was
his mission, and he succeeded in that mission. Medics taped
up Ronaldo's tie a few minutes later. He was clearly
in pain. He was very limited defriender, very physical, tactically
(11:02):
very sound, but well, he couldn't really play football. He
just could all renew its to tackling. His name was
Khalid der Kannibali or Khalid the Cannibal. Once he told
a friend he was sharpening his studs for the upcoming match, quote,
I only want one thing to eat a striker. The
(11:23):
nickname stuck. Boolooroo's preferred to call himself his mother's son.
He grew up in a Moroccan family with eight siblings.
At sixteen, his dad died and he became responsible for
the family financially. In his early playing days, he drove
a VW golf but couldn't afford the gas to keep
it running. Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who made
a record on thirteenth appearance in this game, called Boolooroo's
(11:46):
the type of teammate you want around on the long
nights at training camps. What I'm trying to say is
that he was a complete human being with needs and
desires and terrors and sorrows, but we know him only
as a butcher with a scar down his face, a
knife between his teeth, an insatiable urge to Maime. Boolooroo's
(12:06):
snuck in one more thigh kick and Ronaldo had to
be subbed out sobbing as Seawards replaced him. A year
and a half later, Ronaldo still had the scar. Once
Van Basten asked Boolooroo's if the tactical instructions were clear,
Boolooroo's nodded quote, no mouse gets through boss. There was
no way Ronaldo was going to escape this one unscathed.
(12:30):
They shouldn't do that, and they shouldn't just hunt Cristiano
Ronaldo down until he's injured and substituted. In the first half,
it was just I didn't like it. Portugal hit back,
Moniche got a yellow card for coming through the back
of Van Bommel, who clearly made the most of it.
(12:51):
Then Moniche scored one nail. A proper match was threatening
to break out, but fret not friend. That never happened.
After half an hour, Costna committed to a long sliding
lunge that really he was never going to get the ball.
(13:13):
It looked like slow motion as he slid across the
field and into the referees notebook. A few minutes before
the half, Nuno vain to hit Ry and Robin in
the chest with his studs in the box. The referee
decided to whistle offside rather than deal with all of that.
And then in first half stoppage time, Costna tried to
(13:34):
head the ball, but it's about two ft from his
bald scalp. His hand slaps it instead. He's on the
halfway line. There's really no point, but it's his second yellow,
so we have our first read. Portugal coach we Fiscotatti
draped his hand over the dugout, looking back over his
shoulder and shaking his head. This was Scotti's eleventh World
(13:55):
Cup game. He'd won the previous ten, including the whole
dang turn in two thousand and two with Brazil. His
Portugal team was let's call it less refined. You expect
Portugal to play that way if they loved to play
dirty historically. Halftime, we're at six yellows and one red.
(14:17):
In the second half, Cout had to break away, he
flubbed and Filip Coku hit the post. But the actual
business of trying to get the ball in the net
was the b plot here. The real game was seeing
who could collect the most cards. Minute fifty substitute Pity
touched Van Baumo, who spun wildly to the ground and
sold it yellow. Minute fifty nine, a late Giovanni von
(14:41):
broncors tacle on Deco yellow. In the aftermath, Luis Figo
headbutted Van Baumo behind the referees back. You can see
the pause. Then Van Baumo puts his hand over his
face and collapses to the ground. Yellow. After the game,
Scolatti said, quote, Jesus Christ said he would turn the
other cheek, but Figo is not Jesus Christ. There you
(15:03):
have it. Minute sixty three, Boolooroo's got back at not
Jesus Christ by elbowing Figo on his big honking nose.
Second yellow red. Both benches cleared for the melee, which
is always fun. Andre Oyer had to be held back.
Minute sixty seven, Johnny Hitinga comes on for von Baumbo. Somehow,
(15:24):
against all the odds, von Baumo survived this game without
getting sent off. He finished his international career with seventy
nine appearances, ten goals, tennis sists, thirteen yellows, and because
there is no justice in this dark and cruel world,
zero red cards. Minute seventy three, the Netherlands break an
unwritten rule by refusing to give the ball back. Portugal
(15:46):
had had to put it out a bounce so a
player could receive medical treatment. Deako comes streaming in foot
at knee height and smacks Johnny Hitinga's trailing foot. He
ting A sores through the air in a gorgeous ark.
Yellow Petite was leaning over hy Tinga, who was crumped
on the floor, to scream at him for not giving
the ball back, so Wesley Schneider bundled him over. Yellow
(16:09):
Raphael Vandervart got booked in the aftermath as players crowded around.
I have no idea what exactly for one match report
called it, apparently for descent yellow. Minutes seventy six, Portuguese
goalkeeper Gottao got booked for well, let's just say the
ref was trigger happy at this point. Match report quote
presumably for time wasting. That same minute, valent is stuck
(16:33):
in a nice slack on the back of Van Percy's ankles.
Minute seventy eight that Goes scooped up the ball and
refused to give it back for the Netherlands to take
their free kick. Cuckoo spun him around to the ground.
That goes second yellow red. For some reason, Goku wasn't booked.
I mean, I'm unclear why Scotti is gesturing and screaming
at the ref. Von Boston looks like his brain has
(16:55):
shorted out. He's just standing still, eyes darting around while
he keeps rubbing his nose with two fingers. Minute Van
Bronkhorst is trying to start a counter attack when Manita
scoops the ball away. Von Bonkhorse then clatters into him,
second yellow red. Von Boston is still holding his face,
just staring and not moving. He said there was no
(17:17):
soccer played in the second half. When Von Boston went
to shakes scare at his hand, the Brazilian was too
busy dancing and waving the Portuguese flag in the middle
of the field. The lasting image of this game is
of the ejected Van Bronkhors and Deco sitting on the
steps next to each other, gesturing and bitching about the referee. Together,
(17:41):
Barcelona teammates international rivals united in their hatred of the referee.
It's what binds us all together, really, common enemies. Many
across the globe picked the same villain. The l A
Times called the refereeing atrocious, pitiful. It called the two
thousand and six World Cup irrevocably tainted. Van Vasten said
(18:02):
quote the referee made a mess of it. He called
the game chaos. After the final whistle, Marcel and the
teammates Diko and Van Bronk post was vaunted Ravelina did
next to each other on the sidelines, wondering wont had
Jude happens. FIFA president step Bladder said the ref wasn't
(18:22):
at the same level as the players and suggested he
should give himself a yellow card. Van Instilroy said the
referee was permanently holding up a card and seemed determined
to book everybody. The New York Times called him petty.
Ronaldo said the referee shouldn't get any more games in
the World Cup, and well he didn't, So who was
this referee that everyone hated? Valentine Ivanov was a forty
(18:46):
four year old music teacher from Moscow. His parents had
met as teenagers at the nineteen fifty six Olympics, where
they each won gold. His father, Valentine cosmics Ivanov, went
out to finish as a joint top score of the
nineteen sixty two World Cup and won the eurosy He
(19:10):
later coached Torpedo Moscow to a league title. Yes, that's
a real team name son Valentine Valentinovich Ivanov was also
a striker for Torpedo Moscow and reached the final of
the Soviet Cup. Then Junior went into refereeing. This was
his last World Cup before aging out at forty five.
He said this game, the Battle of Nuremberg, was the
(19:30):
toughest of his career in terms of rudeness. Actually, Ivanov
was criticized for his performance, but I thought that he
was handed an absolutely impossible tasking that game at he
and he actually had a good game. All the players
who were sent off dissolved to be set. Twitter hadn't
taken off yet, so people on the internet started websites
(19:52):
arguing the pros and cons of Junior's continued existence. Debating
the merits, Ivanov joked that he would go into politics.
His father stood up for him, pointing out that FIFA
had asked referees to be stricter. The two thousand and
sixth tournament finished with a record high of three and
forty five yellow cards and twenty eight reds. Ivanov's mother
had the more emotional defense. Her son speaks perfect English,
(20:14):
he has a PhD in pedagogy. Quote, but his father
dragged him into football. With that, my life came to
an end, pic dramatic. What I'm trying to say is
that he was a complete human being with needs and
desires and terrors and sorrows. Even if he's not the
best referee in history. He's not, But you know, I
(20:35):
think even the best referee ever wouldn't have been able
to handle that game properly because some of the players
took that filled in order to kick and injure other players.
So who was that fault for how the game turned out?
Ivanov himself said it's hard to determine why a game
(20:56):
suddenly becomes so rough quote, but happens. He added that
the Portuguese game plan was expected. The Dutch surprised him,
but the Dutch, the Dutch, I not like that. And
the very fact that Marco van Boston, of all people,
he was the coach and he was such an elegant striker.
(21:19):
Van Boston accomplished everything in his short playing career besides
winning the Ballondor thrice. He won the Euros, two European
Cups and three Syria titles. He retired at twenty eight
from injuries. The fact that Marco van Boston decided to
send out his prayers in order to injure opponents, it's
(21:42):
just disgusting. It's the fact that Marco van Boston became
such a cynical and negative coach. It was very, very
very disappointed, because really really disappointed. After the game, both
Mark van Bamble and Rude Venus to Roy refused to
play for Van Boston. Ever again, Ronaldo said of the
fouls had clearly been intended to injure him. FIFA talks
(22:04):
about fair play that he said there was no fair play.
The game finished with sixteen yellows and four reds, a
World Cup record, and just think how many more there
would have been if Pippe had earned his Portuguese citizenship
a year earlier. In the same World Cup, English referee
Graham Paul gave a Croatian player three yellow cards before
(22:25):
sending him off. Joseph Simnich referee mistakes stand out. We
tend to talk about any other aspect of the game
if it's well refed. Firstly, I take a positive view
of the referees. I cannot conceive. I mean I think
I can. I think I can conceive of how difficult
it is to be a referee, or particularly alignsman. But
I know that I can't because what I think of
(22:46):
the difficulty is if I was ever placed in that
situation for really, even for five minutes, given a linesman's job,
and told to try and make important decisions which other
people are going to be relying on. The ignomint is
going to follow swiftly on my heels if I dare
to make a mistake, I cannot conceive of how difficult
that is. And I know they get things wrong. Ivanov's
(23:09):
mother agrees, But when I look at referees and the
track record they have of getting things right, I think
it's just phenomenal that a human being can, for ninety
minutes get that many things right. They get some stuff wrong,
but go back years and watch some of the decisions then,
and oh my word, I want to talk about something else.
Everyone complained about Ivanov's performance, but this game freaking rocked.
(23:33):
I mean, everyone likes goals, the whoosh of the ball
in the net, the eruption of a yell in our
throat before you fully register what's actually happened, the surge
in the crowd, the moment the players drop their guard
and hug each other like tizzy little children. But you
(23:53):
know what's more rare than goals, red cards. More than
even a goal, a red drastically alters the match. You've
got to play. With one fewer human on your team,
you will almost certainly lose. We should hold the beloved
red card in a place of honor, cherish them. Listen.
I get it. If you're Dutcher Portuguese, this game was bullshit.
(24:13):
But if you're from one of two other national confederations
that FIFA recognizes, holy held this game was fun. Our
primitive brains could barely grasp it. Sits and wonders. But
I think on the occasions that it's touched my own
kind of that I've had skin in the game. I mean,
you just move on, because the other thing about football
is that next week there'll be a fresh story. Next week.
(24:37):
You might win next week. I don't know, It's just
a sport that continually renews. The Netherlands went on to
make the final in the following World Cup, two ten.
They're famously Nigel de Gng pleaded cha in the chest.
He's looking could have been a red card, probably should
have been. No attempt to play the ball at all,
(24:58):
that's mu to the chest. Portugal went on to win
the Euros because here's the man, there's one of the
Unitade Chaptian ship. So the referee isn't something that I
fixate on. Yeah, and I salute them because, as I say,
I cannot conceive of how difficult it is what they do.
(25:19):
And I think of all the incredible people, the incredible performance,
the incredible talents that we see in football. Possibly referees
are among the best. In the Guinness Book of World Records.
The game with the most red cards came in the
Argentine Fifth Division, a two thousand eleven match deteriorated into
a full fledged bench clearing brawl. Fans even joined in
(25:43):
the fighting. The referee sent off all two players, plus
fourteen subs and coaches, thirty six red cards in total.
Sites and wonders, no one cares how many goals were scored.
The Best Soccer Podcasts in the World is a production
of Exiled Content Studios in partnership with I Hearts Michael
(26:04):
podcast Network and is hosted by Men Devila, produced by
Anna and Zach Lee Rigg, Written by Zach Lee Rigg.
Production assistants by Stella Emmett. Our executive producers are Isaac
Lee Rose Reed and myself Named Avila. Our executive producers
that I Heart are Gisel Bances and Arlene Santana. Sound
designed by Are Awesome. Theme song is by lu j
(26:30):
Special thanks to all the voices who participated in this episode,
Michael Yelkin and James Richardson. For more podcasts, listen to
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
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