Final trial tournament for WC candidates and final (scheduled) live FIFA trials of VAR system. Referees IRMATOV (UZB) DIEDHIOU (SEN) RAMOS (MEX) RICCI (BRA) CONGER (NZL) BRYCH (GER) VARs AL JASSIM (QAT) GEIGER (USA) CUNHA (URU) SAMPAIO (BRA) VIGLIANO (ARG) DIAS (POR) TURPIN (FRA) ZWAYER (GER)
No. Sorry, thought that would be obvious. These are WC candidate crews. When Geiger travels as a referee, it's with Morgante and Fletcher right now. But he's flying solo to do the VAR role only at this tournament. All of these referees have their own crews.
Playoff for Quarter-finals Al-Jazira 1-0 Auckland City: DIEDHIOU (SEN) Quarter-finals Pachuca 1-0 (AET) Wydad Casablanca: IRMATOV (UZB) Al-Jazira 1-0 Urawa Red Diamonds: RAMOS (MEX) Match for fifth place Wydad Casablanca 2-3 Urawa Red Diamonds: CONGER (NZL) Semi-finals Gremio 1-0 (AET) Pachuca: BRYCH (GER) Al-Jazira - Real Madrid: RICCI (BRA)
At this point all six referees have done a match, with two matches to go. I think we're looking at an Irmatov final, which would be his third, breaking his tie for first with Benito Archundia of Mexico. Third-place match will likely go to Diedhiou, although Conger could be another option.
Current FIFA policy is 48-hour notification. I think there was some deviation from that at the last World Cup or at 2010 with some matches being announced more in advance, but that's the exception that tends to prove the rule. More to the point, though, why would you expect this? Performances matter. As do which teams advance.
The Premier League referees are posted more than 48 hours in advance. I figured that for a tournament with 8 games in 11 days it wouldn't be hard to make the referee schedule in advance.
Ramos (MEX) gets the whistle on the Final. Geiger is the VAR, thereby making him the first American official to work two FIFA Finals.
That's not apples to apples. The assignments for EPL and other leagues are announced at the beginning of the week partially due to transportation and personal considerations. A referee working a domestic league Saturday match needs to plan his calendar and Monday gives him some time to do that (note, in MLS, though assignments are published the week of, they are actually made more than 3 weeks out for these same reasons). At a FIFA event, everyone is centrally located and FIFA is handling the travel. You show up, you do your fitness test, you go to the daily clinics and meetings, you do the field exercises, etc., etc. You all stay in the same hotel. Then you get your assignments a couple days before. If the entire roster of the EPL lived at a hotel in London, I bet assignments would be published with only 48-hour notice, too.
Can't do it. The show would make public how referees get together and decide which team to screw over.