South African referee Victor Gomes has been lauded for his performances at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Gomes has often divided opinion amongst the local football fraternity and is often accused of ‘stealing the show’ but is widely considered as one of the best in the world.
That’s been showcased after handling the France-Australia and Japan-Spain games at the global event in Qatar.
Former FIFA referee Ace Ncobo feels that he was on a level he probably cannot match again – in a fixture that drew plenty of controversy surrounding the Japan winner.
“I think in this second match, he was even better than the first, look he had a brilliant game in France versus Australia,” Ncobo said.
“But I think he was even better [against Japan vs Spain], he was a notch higher, his positioning, his running – the way in which he was able to allow the match to flow in the manner that he did.
“I think it was a deciding match, it was not an easy match to handle – and you know how tricky those Japanese players are – it’s very easy to foul them. But if you look at the percentage of active game time.
“It’s a very high percentage in a sense that the referee allowed play to flow nicely, he was excellent, I don’t think he will ever have a match better than that.”
