Am I missing something or do you just mean that being at the tournament in general constitutes being thrown to the wolves?
This is a bit embarrassing, I read his assignment initially as Guatemala v Honduras but he has Grenada. If it was the former, that would have been a tough introduction to this tournament.
Why does the US keep sending Marrufo to these events? He clearly wasn't good enough when FIFA didn't select him for the most recent WC. Let's give someone else a chance and cease sending "my daddy was a FIFA ref."
You're not serious are you? If you are you are showing that you really know nothing about him and what went on and how he has risen to his level. Jair did great job in the game last night. He showed why he is probably one of the best in CONCACAF if he stays focused.
Your second sentence isn't necessarily true. Rodriguez, Batres and Archundia were always going to go from CONCACAF last time. It was just a race with Aguilar to be the fourth official selected. And if you think Aguilar won that one on the merits, I don't know what to tell you. Putting Marrufo forward in 2008 was an investment toward 2014 selection. Hall was gone and Stott stood down--the US didn't have a natural candidate for 2010 after Vaughn apparently didn't set the world on fire at the WYC in Canada. FIFA wasn't going to pick an American in 2010, so blaming Marrufo for that isn't fair. Plus, Marrufo performed very well in Beijing, so FIFA has already seen him in a positive light. Abandoning him now--whatever his faults and troubles in the MLS in the past--would be foolish. The only other person who would actually have a legitimate "chance," and not be filling out the candidate list, is Geiger. And he's busy getting on FIFA's radar at the U20s this summer. USSF--as much as they have a say in all this--seems to be playing it correctly with CONCACAF and FIFA for 2014.
It may be an investment for 2014 but that was not the real thinking. US Soccer believed that Jair had a great chance at being selected and most likely would have if it weren't for the stupid MLS tricks he pulled just before. He not a kid anymore and, last night showed why he should be selected. TV will never go and no one else, except as you say, Geiger, has a chance.
I absolutely am serious. I don't know what the USSF sees in this guy. He has very poor man-management skills and is overly picky about aspects of the game. I've watched him several times on TV and a few times live, most recently in Portland (vs RSL). In this particular game, he made players reposition the ball for free kicks by no more than a foot about three times! This annoyed both teams and prevented quick restarts, which detracted from the flow of the game and the enjoyment of the spectators. He seems more interested in how his spikey hair and bulked up arms look on TV than the quality of his performance. Overall, I feel that his decisions are no better than average. If you couple this with his indiscritions, I can't see why the USSF wants him to represent that organization.
So Taylor was on the Guadeloupe-Canada game last night, which is why he was moved off his first game (replaced by Mejia, who now gets two matches). The referee Taylor replaced? Neil Brizan of Trinidad & Tobago. I wonder if his absence has anything to do with Warner's suspension or if it's just a coincidental injury.
Turns out it was neither. Brizan had the El Salvador v Cuba game tonight, so it's now Molina (who was a replacement for Pineda) who is left with no assignments unless something gives. Looks like that was the domino that caused the other two changes with Taylor and Mejia.
Solis from Costa Rica has replaced Mejia due to a possible conflict of interest with El Salavador advancing to the QFs over the US depending on the result of this game. The Canada - Panama game eliminated this possibility though.
Solis had some bizarre foul calls. His foul recognition is poor. I was at a loss on many of his decisions. Use of the train whistle in such a noisy stadium was a poor decision.
So here's what I'm wondering: who gets USA-Mexico this cycle? If it happens in the Gold Cup, should we expect Roberto Moreno, who had the August 2009 qualifier in Azteca, or Courtney Campbell, who had the 2009 Gold Cup final? If it happens twice in the hex, are those the two we should expect? Obviously this would never happen, but am I crazy to wish Chiquidrácula could referee a USA-Mexico game?
I think Aguilar and Moreno are the obvious choices for USA-Mexico in WCQ next year. Wijngaarde is likely sitting in the first alternate's chair, should El Salvador or Panama be in a position to be affected directly by either of the matches. Of course, we could always hope for a return to the policy of bringing in CONMEBOL or other refs for those matches... If it happens in this tournament, it would be the Final. So a lot will depend on who gets used where along the way. Campbell and Brizan both seem possible, as they are Carribbean refs in their last tournaments, but they've both had the Gold Cup Final before. Aguilar might be the early favorite here; a lot might be gleaned from the QF assignments and who gets which match.
Has qualifying changed back to the hex? The last format I saw pretty much insured the US and Mexico will not play during the qualifiers. That would make this match up the biggie for the next little while.
Saw the same thing you did, but I think that ended up being a draft plan that got scrapped. CONCACAF format is on this page, linked as a PDF: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/competitionformat.html Unless I'm reading it wrong, "Round 4" looks like the Hex again. The way teams get there has been altered a bit, though.
Ah, CONCACAF... So the assignments for today's and tomorrow's matches still aren't out yet, which I found really weird. It's especially weird considering the fact that CONCACAF announced all 18 first round games ahead of time, with some assignments being a full two weeks early, which sort of defies all convention. Now, this morning, per Der Spiegel via Grant Wahl's twitter feed (I'd link but the original is in German, so a bit useless for us), we find out that FIFA and Interpol are investigating 3 out of 5 of the following matches for match-fixing: CRC - CUB MEX - SLV JAM - GRE MEX - CUB GUA - GRE No indication that the referees of those matches (Moreno, Wijngaarde, Campbell and Toledo x2) are under suspicion, but the news probably explains why we aren't seeing assignments ahead of time right now.
Both teams are giving him issues with lots of embellishment and simulation. It has been an exciting game with tons of dynamic play. Very wide open with both teams attacking into tons of space. If only these players could play como hombres y no mujeres. Great call on the penalty.
I don't like Campbell. He's letting the match get away from him and in the 54th minute misses an obvious red card and only issues a caution. It was the classic plancha. The cleat at high speed applied directly to the shin. Ouch!
So Costa Rica played 4 games and had Moreno ref them 3 times. I know recreational tournament assignors who have a better general structure to their assigning. How do you get 15 refs at a 12 team tournament and have 1 guy see the same team for 75% of their games?! Similarily, Campbell has done two matches, both involving Mexico. Anyone's guess for tomorrow, I suppose. But I'll predict Rodriguez for US-Jamaica and Marrufo for Panama-El Salvador. If the US advances, that's literally the last match for Marrufo (since he has been forbidden in the past from working Mexico matches). And since giving referees to the same team multiple times isn't frowned upon, Rodriguez seems an obvious fit unless he's being held for the semifinal. In that case, it could be our friend Aguilar...