El Salvador - Jamaica should go to Marrufo, as MassRef suggested. I guess Garcia will have USA - Nicaragua.
Panama-Martinique is likely the more consequential game, so wouldn't be surprised to see Garcia there, actually. And would keep him away from the USA in case CONCACAF wants to use him in the knockout stages. That would mean Matamoras for USA-Nicaragua and then a repeat ref for Mexico-Curaçao--maybe Pitti or Ward?
I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. I think it should have happened on the first PK. IMO, ref should have given a yellow card for the initial foul outside the box, which he played advantage on, leading to the foul in the box. The foul in the box was all arms, no attempt the play the ball, and denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
So, the QF matchups are Costa Rica-Panama, USA-El Salvador, Jamaica-Canada, and Mexico-Honduras. If I were guessing, and presuming no referee can be on a match that might determine his country's opponent (which is standard, but who knows for CONCACAF because it didn't happen last time), I'd say: Ramos for Costa Rica-Panama Martinez for USA-El Salvador Geiger for Mexico-Honduras Lopez for Canada-Jamaica That sort of scenario probably screws Garcia and Marrufo and puts Aguilar, Pitti/Montero (depending upon the CRC-PAN result) and one of the Hondurans as the final 3 referees. So maybe I'm way off. It's just hard to figure out a scenario (and justify) Geiger, Marrufo, Garcia and Ramos all working when we're only talking about 7 matches and the restrictions caused by the US and Mexico being alive.
Does CONCACAF make an announcement as to who/if they send any refereees home after the group stage? They invited 17 referees? Do they retain them all for the knockout stages?
I have no real idea. I guess Ramos purely based on rest days and the fact that Ramos seems to be highly rated within CONCACAF (whereas Garcia seems the more likely World Cup referee). But it's just a guess. You could take the same set of facts and logically argue the other way (that it's Garcia's "turn" since he didn't have a knockout match in 2015 and he needs to be touted for 2018). The Geiger-Marrufo question is similar, really. But I think/hope there is an incentive to push Geiger that doesn't quite exist with the Mexican referees--I could be totally wrong, though.
Costa Rica - Panama: MONCADA (HON) USA - El Salvador: FISCHER (CAN) Somewhat unexpected, both appointments.
Full appointments New Costa Rica - Panama: MONCADA (HON), LEAL (GUA), CRUZ (HON), MATAMOROS (HON) USA - El Salvador: FISCHER (CAN), QUINTEROS (MEX), ROCHARD (TRI), GUERRERO (MEX)
So the only way one of the Mexican referees works is if he gets a match that determines who faces Mexico (or if Mexico gets eliminated). Welcome to CONCACAF.
Drew Fischer already having a tough one. Looks like he showed the wrong player a yellow card in the 17th minute. Prior to caution his assistant had his flag up disallowing a goal that appeared by the replay to be onside.
So how about that advantage call? Seems like he called the second foul and then brought it back to first instead of giving a penalty. Odd.
One of the current short falls of VAR. you can disallow a goal that video shows was offside but you can't award a goal that was on, but called off.
So what's with the free kick arcs drawn by Fischer? It curls away from the ball so the rest of the arc is more than 10 yards.
Well, then. After all the play-acting in the first half, that's actually missed VC. Don't think that will be forgotten.