Luis Medina Cantalejo
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Luis Medina Cantalejo (born March 1, 1964) is a Spanish football referee.
Professionally, Medina Cantalejo is a sports assessor who lives in Tomares, west of Seville. He is one of the few officials allowed to officiate the domestic clashes between Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona[1]. His first experience as an international referee came on September 4, 2004, between Turkey and Georgia, in a preliminary qualifier for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
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[edit] Australia v Uruguay 2005 (World Cup Qualifier)
He was selected to officiate the playoff between Uruguay and Australia for the final spot in the World Cup on November 16, 2005. His performance in this game drew criticism from the Australian and Uruguayan media and publics alike. Cantalejo blew for over 50 fouls in the match and let rough play and professional fouls occur repeatedly throughout the game without brandishing a red card. (Tony Popović seemed to elbow Álvaro Recoba in the face and only received a yellow card, and Pablo García continually committed professional fouls without going in to the book.) However Catalejo's performance was largely overlooked in the aftermath of the match in the Australian media, who focussed more on Australia's qualification rather than on Catalejo's officiating.
[edit] 2006 World Cup
He was promoted at the last minute to officiate matches at the finals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup after assistants of two other referees failed to meet the FIFA standards[2]. He has officiated three 2006 FIFA World Cup matches to this point: Germany v. Poland, Netherlands v. Argentina, and Italy v. Australia.
During the Italy vs Australia game he made several controversial decisions, including showing Italy's Marco Materazzi a straight red card for a challenge on Australia's Marco Bresciano, and a disputed penalty kick awarded after contact between Italy's Fabio Grosso and Australia's Lucas Neill in the penalty area, four minutes into stoppage time. The penalty kick, which Francesco Totti converted to give Italy a 1-0 victory, was the final kick of the match. When asked about the penalty call, Australia coach Guus Hiddink said "If you saw the replay, I don't think there was any doubt that it was not a penalty," while Italy coach Marcello Lippi said "There were two fouls on (Grosso). He didn't go down on the first and he continued dribbling, and then he sustained another clear foul. (Neill) didn't throw his body on the field because he thought he'd get the ball."[3] In April 2006, Medina made a similarly controversial call in a game between Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona, which drew scathing criticism from Real Madrid player David Beckham[4]
Two days after the Australia-Italy game FIFA announced that Medina was one of the twelve referees retained for the remainder of the tournament. He refereed the quarter final between Brazil and France on 1 July.
Medina was appointed as fourth official for the FIFA World Cup Final between Italy and France and was involved in another important decision during the final, as none of the three officials on the field saw Zinedine Zidane headbutting Marco Materazzi. He informed referee's assistant Dario Garcia, who in turn told referee Elizondo (Argentina) what had happened. The French captain was then shown the red card. Medina denied press reports and French allegations that it was only after seeing video evidence of Zidane's infraction that he chose to intervene.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ World Cup 2006 Referees. Reuters. Retrieved on June 27, 2006.
- ^ 23 referees from 21 countries. FIFA Press Release. Retrieved on June 27, 2006.
- ^ Late, disputed penalty knocks out Australia. San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved on June 28, 2006.
- ^ Spanish referees under fire after weekend controversy. Reuters. Retrieved on June 27, 2006.
- ^ Fourth official: I saw Zidane's headbutt. Reuters/ESPN. Retrieved on July 11, 2006.
