Back To Santiago

When we arrived at the stadium, we were greeted by our fellow referees who came by bus earlier. They congratulated us on a good match. At halftime, Bibi (German) sat next to me and recounted a story from the night before. Apparently, my match had been televised and all of the referees were gathered together to watch the match. At one point, Karine (France) started to laugh. Bibi asked her why she was laughing and she told her that the commentators had made a comment to the effect of "this referee, Jennifer Bennett, is much smarter than the tall German referee from the previous match". In my prior posts, you can see that Bibi is also blond, but much taller than I am. She is a policewomen by trade and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. In Bibi's match, there had been a situation where there was a foul at midfield, but just as Bibi blew the whistle, the ball went to a wide open attacking player. As the camera zoomed in on Bibi, you could see the attacking players pleading for an advantage call and reading Bibi's lips you could see that she was saying "I know, I'm so sorry". It has happened to all of us at one point. At the moment you realize that you should have applied advantage, you just wish you could suck the wind back into the whistle, but unfortunately, once you blow the whistle, play must stop. So apparently the commentator was making a reference to this particularly incident. Bibi was a good sport about it. With a big smile on her face, she told me that at this moment, she hates me, but for sure, I would be the one buying a round for everyone. :)

The Japan vs Korea DPR match did not disappoint the crowd. As expected, both teams played with great intensity and skill. Japan displayed finesse, but in the end the Koreans delivered another winning performance. Unfortunately, the match was marred with several delay tactics employed by the Koreans which were not well received by the crowd. The fans would whistle with disapproval at every attempt to delay. There were players rolling around on the ground with cramps miraculously subsiding after a short trip on the stretcher to the touchline. The trainer who came on to access the injured players attemped to parade around the pitch giving instructions to the players to the dismay of the referees. At the end of the match, the fans did not applaud the winning team. It was the losing team who had won their approval today. The Japanese lined up facing each section of the stadium and bowed to the thunderous applaud of the fans. It was certainly an emotional moment for the players and for the fans alike.

After the match, we headed back to the hotel. We were hoping to watch the second quarterfinal being played in Temuco, but unfortunately, the Irish pub could not find the match on satellite. So we ended up having an early dinner and watched part of the match being streamed on the Internet. The second quarterfinal match pitted Brazil against Germany. Germany took a 3-1 lead, but Brazil came back making for a thrilling finish. All of the referees in the dining room were gathering around one small laptop watching the final 10 minutes.

With Christmas just around the corner, the hotel staff has decorated the lobby with a Christmas tree. I am joined by Helen (Sweden), Bibi (Germany), Marina (Germany) and Anna (Sweden).



After the match had ended and dinner was finished, a small group of us headed over to the corner cafe for some fellowship. Tomorrow we will find out which referees will be staying for the finals and which will be heading home so we wanted to make the most of our remaining time together.