| What's a World Cup without controversy? The 2010 | | | | with striking a player. To be fair to Al Ghamdi, he was |
| World Cup had its moments; some of them had little to | | | | consistent with his incorrect decisions. The Saudi |
| do with the players but the men in the middle. Midway | | | | Arabian had to issue the red card for that offence, |
| through the group stage, one could easily identify some | | | | given that he issued three yellow cards earlier in the |
| of the card-happy referees at the tournament. | | | | game for minor infractions. Chile won 1-0, but who |
| Referees issued a few red cards in the early stages | | | | knows what the result might have been with a better |
| of the World Cup - as early as the second match. | | | | referee. |
| Some offences, like Nigeria's Sani Kaita outrageous | | | | Alberto Mallenco (Spain) |
| swipe against Greece, deserved red cards. On other | | | | The Spanish referee had a disaster when officiating in |
| occasions, the referee seemed card-happy. | | | | the Serbia v Germany fixture. He sent off Miroslav |
| Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) | | | | Klose in the 36th minute for two bookable offences, |
| The forty year-old Al Ghamdi was a FIFA referee for | | | | one of which did not seem to deserve the caution. |
| seven years. Apparently, FIFA did not recognize his | | | | Serbia scored two minutes later and went on to win. |
| fondness for yellow and red in this period. Apart from | | | | The first caution for Klose seemed "soft" according to |
| the irritating overuse of the whistle, the Saudi Arabian | | | | some commentators, but it was justifiable. Klose's |
| spoiled one match at the 2010 tournament. Al Ghamdi | | | | second card was a case of the referee wanting to |
| was the referee for the Mexico v France fixture - | | | | make his mark on the game. In addition to the |
| where he issued seven yellows cards - and the Chile | | | | gratuitous red card, Mallenco issued yellow cards for |
| v Switzerland match, where he altered the course of | | | | minor offences that many referees would not have |
| the game unnecessarily. | | | | cautioned. |
| This referee issued 15 yellow cards and 1 red card in | | | | Marco Rodriguez (Mexico) |
| two games - nine yellow cards and 1 red card in the | | | | "Little Dracula," as the Mexican media calls him, |
| Chile versus Switzerland game. He sent off | | | | showed who is boss when he dismissed Tim Cahill for |
| Switzerland's Valon Behrami in the 30th minute, | | | | a foul that looked like a caution (yellow card) at best. |
| showing the Swiss player a straight red for a foul on | | | | The red card was for serious foul play, but replays |
| Arturo Vidal that was a caution at best. It appeared as | | | | showed that it deserved nothing more than a yellow |
| though Vidal moved into the arm of Behrami and there | | | | card. Germany was already leading 2-0, but added |
| was not the jerking of the arm normally associated | | | | two more goals for good measure. |