Assignments 45-48

[Spaceball]

Match 45: Togo-France - Jorge Larrionda
Match 46: Swiss-Korea - Elizondo
Match 47: Saudi Arabia-Spain - Codjia
Match 48: Ukraine-Tunisia - Amarilla

As most of us expected, Larrionda is awared another match...and one that has meaning as France needs a win.

[usatowin]

As most of us expected, Larrionda is awared another match...and one that has meaning as France needs a win.

Guys, almost all of the 2nd round of group games and most of the 3rd have meaning as far as go through. Getting a game with go through meaning isn't what people are making it out to be. Take this one for example. France is a power, Togo is a walkover. Yes anything can happen, but the truth is it will take a miracle for France not to win. This is a one last chance game where the result is pretty much not in doubt, nothing more.

[MassachusettsRef]

This is a one last chance game where the result is pretty much not in doubt, nothing more.How do you draw that conclusion? To start, why is Larrionda getting 'one last chance?' FIFA has said they supported all three red cards, so on what basis would he be down to his final chance?

To be honest, people seem to be drawing way too many conclusions based on assignments (both of the positive and negative variety). The fact is, we can all point to perceived mistakes or controversies, but we have absolutely no idea what the Referees' Committee is thinking about a given referee's performance viz-a-viz that of another ref. Is Simon not red carding Valencia a huge mistake, or a small afterthought? Was Busacca's red in the Spain game exactly what FIFA wanted, or the case of a referee being overly technical? Did Merk's run-in with Kewell doom him, or is it a small error? What about Ruiz's widely perceived poor (or, at least subpar, for him) performance? Is Maidin praised for sending of John with a second yellow, or villified for not getting him in the first place with a straight red? These are all questions that none of us has a clue about in regards to how the Committee is answering them. And there are several dozen other similar questions. We all have our own opinions, I'm sure, but at any level--and especially the World Cup--assigning referees for a tournament becomes a massive puzzle with tons of different factors.

The only thing I see for a fact, so far, is that every referee is still there and still working. We will see the first cut, very shortly. I'm guessing, but I think it will entail the S&D group being sent home (it doesn't make sense to keep S&D guys as your potential injury replacements in the knockout stages, when you can keep refs that have already worked matches) and another group of a select few. Only at that point will we really be able to deduce how the Committee might have seen certain incidents and performances.

I also think that you--and, to be sure, many others--are far too quick to be certain of potential results. Anything can happen in these sort of matches and they have far-reaching implications. Look at Baharmast's Brazil-Norway assignment in 1998. Who would have thought that night would have turned out the way it did?

[IDFK]

Why is anyone surprised he was okay in his last match? I have been told that FIFA had no problems

[MidwestRef]

Merely a throw-away assignment in order to save the legs of the real referees who are in Germany. If Larrionda had to get a game, I'm not surprised it was this one.

[usatowin]

I also think that you--and, to be sure, many others--are far too quick to be certain of potential results. Anything can happen in these sort of matches and they have far-reaching implications. Look at Baharmast's Brazil-Norway assignment in 1998. Who would have thought that night would have turned out the way it did?

That's an anomaly and I don't think Baharmast was highly rated going in to that tournament. You're not going to see the guys in the upper third doing games like France-Togo. They'll go to the evenly matched games like in Group E. Sure a France-Togo can have stuff happen, that's why one of the top 30 refs in the world is on it, but with so many go through games, to say a game like that is a reward is too much.

As to Larrionda, I've spoken on that in his personal threads. It wasn't the red cards and it wasn't the McBride offside.

[MassachusettsRef]

That's an anomaly and I don't think Baharmast was highly rated going in to that tournament. Esse Baharmast got what was, at the time, flat-out, the biggest marquee appointment going into that tournament. When the first 32 matches were assigned (as they were done en masse before the first kickoff), he was handed Spain-Nigeria, which was the game of the first round. He then followed it up with a Brazil match. And now he's one of four instructors at this World Cup. Baharmast was and still is highly rated by FIFA. If not for unfortunate timing with the Brazil penalty, I'm almost certain he would have seen the middle of at least a quarterfinal match in France. Remember, he was never actually sent home from that tournament.