It will end up being about 50 matches once everything is said and done, though. The European qualifying assignments tend to become public in piecemeal before they are posted by UEFA. I believe the reason is that some federations announce the assignments for their referees ahead of time. In this case, it looks like the Dutch federation made an announcement or had a leak.
All the UEFA federations have officially been informed today and most of them made an announcement with the referees of their next matches. IMO FIFA should also have announced the referees. BTW: 06-09 Ireland - Sweden: SKOMINA (SVN)
I don't know, I think CONCACAF will get a look in. FIFA seem to have some perverse interest in Marco Rodriguez which seems to baffle everyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets one of them to spread the appointments around.
You could be right, but it does seem as though FIFA likes to send Europeans to the playoff matches that involve South American teams. The style of refereeing in Mexico and Central America is very similar to what is normally seen in CONMEBOL--perhaps FIFA thinks that's a potential advantage that they want to avoid giving to the South American side. If a CONCACAF referee is to be involved, who knows... maybe it could be Geiger. Also, with Garcia's rise, it's going to be very interesting to see if Rodriguez is still in the fold for the next World Cup at all. The entire CONCACAF race is shaping up to be quite a battle. Geiger and Garcia have both done the U20 WC Final now, Rodriguez has been to two World Cups and Aguilar has gone as a 4th official and done two straight Gold Cup Finals. One would think that the 3 whistles (if there are 3) will come from those 4. If there is only one Mexican, I'm not sure what the choice will be, but I lean Garcia.
UEFA assignments so far. 06 September 2013 Group B Italy - Bulgaria: CARBALLO (ESP) Group C Ireland - Sweden: SKOMINA (SVN) Group D Turkey - Andorra: BINDELS (LUX) Group D Romania - Hungary: MALLENCO (ESP) Group F N. Ireland - Portugal: MAKKELIE (NED) Group G Liechtenstein - Greece: TODOROV (BUL) Group G Bosnia - Slovakia: RIZZOLI (ITA) Group H Poland - Montenegro: KUIPERS (NED) 10 September 2013 Group B Armenia - Denmark: NIJHUIS (NED) Group B Malta - Bulgaria: JUG (SVN) Group C Kazakstan - Sweden: ZELINKA (CZE) Group D Romania - Turkey: MOEN (NOR) Group G Greece - Latvia: JAKOBSSON (ISL) Group G Slovakia - Bosnia: BORBALAN (ESP)
ALL CAF appointments 06.09 Ghana - Zambia: HAIMOUDI (ALG) 07.09 Central African Republic - Ethiopia: BENOUZA (ALG) 07.09 South Africa - Botswana: DIATTA (SEN) 07.09 Burgina Faso - Gabon: SEECHURN (MRI) 07.09 Nigeria - Malawi: NAMPIANDRAZA (MAD) 07.09 Kenya - Namibia: GRISHA (EGY) 07.09 Angola - Liberia: JEDIDI (TUN) 07.09 Sierra Leone - Eq. Guinea: MOHAMED (SDN) 07.09 Gambia - Tanzania: MUNYEMANA (RWA) 07.09 Niger - Congo: COULIBALY (MLI) 07.09 Ivory Coast - Morocco: CAMILLE (SEY) 07.09 Tunisia - Cape Verde: GASSAMA (GAM) 07.09 Senegal - Uganda: BENNETT (RSA) 08.09 Zimbabwe - Mozambique: KEITA (MLI) 08.09 Cameroon - Libya: DOUE (CIV) 08.09 Togo - Congo DR: EL AHRACH (MAR) 08.09 Benin - Rwanda: BANGOURA (GUI) 08.09 Sudan - Lesotho: KIRWA (KEN) 10.09 Egupt - Guinea: BAMLAK (ETH) 10.09 Algeria - Mali: OTOGO-CASTANE (GAB)
UEFA appointments 06/09 Group A Fyrom - Wales: KEVER (SUI) Group A Serbia - Croatia: BRYCH (GER) Group A Scotland - Belgium: TAGLIAVENTO (ITA) Group B Italy - Bulgaria: CARBALLO (ESP) Group B Malta - Denmark: SIDIROPOULOS (GRE) Group B Czech Republic - Armenia: GAUTIER (FRA) Group C Ireland - Sweden: SKOMINA (SVN) Group C Germany - Austria: MAZIC (SRB) Group C Kazakstan - Faroe Islands: CASANOVA (SMR) Group D Turkey - Andorra: BINDELS (LUX) Group D Romania - Hungary: MALLENCO (ESP) Group D Estonia - Netherlands: BOIKO (UKR) Group E Slovenia - Albania: VAD (HUN) Group E Norway - Cyprus: HANSEN (DEN) Group E Switzerland - Iceland: KARASEV (RUS) Group F N. Ireland - Portugal: MAKKELIE (NED) Group F Russia - Luxemburg: MADDEN (SCO) Group F Israel - Azerbaijan: JOHANNESSON (SWE) Group G Liechtenstein - Greece: TODOROV (BUL) Group G Bosnia - Slovakia: RIZZOLI (ITA) Group G Latvia - Lithuania: DELFERIERE (BEL) Group H Poland - Montenegro: KUIPERS (NED) Group H England - Moldova: KRUZLIAK (SVK) Group H Ukraine - San Marino: DOYLE (IRL) Group I Finland - Spain: BEBEK (CRO) Group I Georgia - France: AYDINUS (TUR)
UEFA appointments 10/09 Group A Fyrom - Scotland: FAUTREL (FRA) Group A Wales - Serbia: MARCINIAK (POL) Group B Armenia - Denmark: NIJHUIS (NED) Group B Malta - Bulgaria: JUG (SVN) Group B Italy - Czech Republic: ERIKSSON (SWE) Group C Kazakstan - Sweden: ZELINKA (CZE) Group C Faroe Islands - Germany: MAZEIKA (LTU) Group C Austria - Ireland: BENQUERENCA (POR) Group D Romania - Turkey: MOEN (NOR) Group D Andorra - Netherlands: SIMUNOVIC (CRO) Group D Hungary - Estonia: KULBAKOV (BLR) Group E Cyprus - Slovenia: BUQUET (FRA) Group E Norway - Switzerland: WEBB (ENG) Group E Iceland - Albania: ATKINSON (ENG) Group F Russia - Israel: GRAFE (GER) Group F Luxemburg - N. Ireland: MALEK (POL) Group G Greece - Latvia: JAKOBSSON (ISL) Group G Slovakia - Bosnia: BORBALAN (ESP) Group G Lithuania - Liechtenstein: SILAGAVA (GEO) Group H Ukraine - England: PROENCA (POR) Group H San Marino - Poland: BORG (MLT) Group I Georgia - Finland: TRATTOU (CYP) Group I Belarus - France: ORSATO (ITA)
Very interesting that Proenca goes back to Kyiv to do that match. He was last there doing the EURO 2012 Final and also did England in that stadium in the QFs. Huge match, too!
He wasn't perfect (for those that watched, I question how the penalty wasn't DOGSO), but I really liked Lopes in the Colombia v Ecuador match. Really good foul recognition, great demeanor, dealt with simulation, good rapport with players in a contentious game. I had never seen him ref before, but it reminded me of the first time I saw Baldassi of Argentina. I know he's not technically on the candidate list right now, but he is going to the U17s. And Brazil will have a referee at the tournament. So he might be one to watch. There seems to always be one "surprisingly"* good South American referee emerge. *I use the term in quotes because I imagine it's not as big of a surprise to those that watch South America regularly.
Peruvian players, fans, media, etc. are not happy with the officiating in their match tonight against Uruguay: The elbow incident is a really bad miss from the referee. That just has to be a red. The red he did give is being deemed soft or resultant from simulation by Suarez. However, there are other replays available (not in the video above) that indicate it's possible the Peruvian player was sent off for kneeing Suarez in the back. It's really hard to tell. But once the referee missed that first elbow, it was all downhill from there.
Agreed in regards to the elbows and the late tackle shown, all deserved reds. It looks like Uruguay are back to their traditional thuggish style of play after seemingly trying to clean it up recently. And Suarez is...just Suarez. A blot on the face of the game. PH
In Spanish Language news I just heard an interview with the Peru coach where he said he would do "cual quierre" or I guess whatever possible to keep the Argentinian referee from the World Cup. I'm not sure he was even a candidate for the WC, but maybe the coach knows something we don't. On that interview he did say his player who got sent acted stupidly, but that the referee acted more stupidly in not sending off the earlier elbow.
The Argentinian situation is in flux. Abal is officially the candidate. The referee in Peru's game last night was Lousteau. A third referee, Pitana, is going to the U17 WC so there is speculation he will replace Abal. Guess who Peru's referee is on Tuesday? Pitana.
congrats to the Poland vs. Montenegro referee crew on getting this correct.... http://blog.foxsoccer.com/post/60568761331/poland-suffers-joy-heartbreak-in-span-of-seconds
That video was phenomenal. I've never seen a video of the team watching the game changing call like that before. I've got to say, they handled that really well. I'd encourage you to watch that video, then after the yellow card, jump to the end where the team watches the offside call.
yeah, they knew that the referee crew had it correct...nothing much for them to do but mutter and head off to the lockeroom.
Don't know why the referee waited so long for the players to get back onto the pitch. Screw them and restart play without them, I say.
Right. Team thinks it's done enough to salvage its World Cup hopes, is celebrating at home in the corner near its fans, has no idea that they were called offside and you want to "screw them" and let their opponents play 11 v 1, probably leading to a goal at the other end. You've got to be realistic in situations like this. Common sense has to apply. Once they saw it was offside, the Polish players returned to the pitch. Starting that game with 10 Polish players off the field just isn't fair--it's not like they were ignoring the whistle, they had no idea it had happened.
Whoa calm down satan. Next you'll be handing the guy who was offside a rope and telling him "Your team would be better off without you."
I don't think that Busacca and the referee's committee will take note of his words. After all he is just a coach and he should be restricted only to his managerial duties and not the selection of WC referees.
Just tuned in to catch the end of the Iceland match. Marriner had the whistle instead of Atkinson. Anyone know if it was a pre-match change or if Atkinson got injured during the match?
The FIFA site list Marriner with the whistle and Probert as 4th, so I'd image a (late) pre-match change.
Interesting little quirk of the CONCACAF assigning process... Mark Geiger could blow the whistle that puts the United States in the World Cup.