I believe the Geiger appointment has been known by some for awhile, but it's finally public from FIFA: Referees: Al MIRDASI (KSA) FAGHANI (IRN) GEIGER (USA) [Flechter/Morgante] + {Marrufo} GASSAMA (GAM) PITANA (ARG) ROLDAN (COL) MAZIC (SRB) ROCCHI (ITA) SKOMINA (SVN) A few of the other VARs are clear candidates or even definite referees for 2018 (Irmatov, Ricci, Turpin, etc.). So I'm not sure what that says about Marrufo. FIFA is going to have to sort out how they assign VARs at the World Cup next year--either as part of a preset quad OR on a match-by-match basis. If it's pre-set, then Marrufo is tied to Geiger. If it's not, then all bets are off. Maybe it will be a hybrid system where VARs are pre-set quads in the group stage and then it's mix and match in the knockouts, but that could potentially lead to confusion. AFC is the only continent that doesn't have the same number of VARs assigned as referees, so it's possible Al Mirdasi, who is the least experienced of the referees listed by far, is only their as a fourth (though there is an Tahitian official there as "support," so maybe not). Finally, the three UEFA officials are the three most likely to get the two club finals--funny how that worked out. Big appointment for Geiger and team. Every referee at the 2013 Confed Cup went to WC2014, except Abal (who faced some issues domestically, which prompted the change to Pitana).
I think Geiger has a decent shot to get the Final provided they decide not to go with the one of the UEFA referees. But with two of those three probably coming off a CL and Europa League, it will be a tall task to not assign one of them the Final.
I think the Final is wide open, since these are all likely WC referees other than Al Mirdasi. The one thing working against Geiger is the high possibility Mexico could make the Final. Also, Faghani is very well regarded so Geiger's not automatically the top choice if it's not UEFA/CONMEBOL. Performance will matter. He probably will get a good first round match, though--I'd guess Germany-Chile or Chile-Cameroon. Also, I missed Gassama in my initial post. Added him now as he is the African representative.
Russia : New Zealand - ROLDAN (COL) Geiger is the 4th on this match. Fletcher is VAR2, which has become the specialist VAR AR position at FIFA tournaments, though it was only used in the knockout stages at U20s.
I believe this is a fascinating press conference. Unfortunately FIFA, in its infinite wisdom, opted for simultaneous English translation of English, which is frustrating. Haven't got through this yet but wanted to share. IFAB changes/trials and VAR are main topics:
I'm 12 minutes into the video and this is, indeed, fascinating. Mobbing of referees and additional stoppage time are new focuses. Goalkeepers and 6 seconds is another. For anyone interested in FIFA-level stuff, this is a must watch.
Busacca goes into VAR, including reviewing clips from U20 (note: Busacca is not a mathematician). You get to hear some of the communication between VAR and CR. So far, they are only showing clips they like, which isn't surprising. But still very informative.
Around 28 minute, Busacca talks about the CR directing certain cameras to look at certain players on corner kicks. Wow.
An interesting question was asked about sanctioning something seen on video that was not the reason the video was reviewed in the first place. The example they talked about was if a referee is asked by the VAR to review an incident of VC, the referee could decide it was instead simulation and caution the offender. The VAR could not initiate the review if he thought it was simulation, however. This specific example seems incredibly unlikely as it is hard to imagine a VAR deciding clearly missed VC and the CR deciding otherwise, but the point is once the video review is initiated the CR can act on anything in the video (if I understood correctly). The other interesting question involved added time, which they want more of in general in this tournament. Is the CR solely responsible for deciding how much to add or does he get help? I assume it would be whatever happens currently, but I don't know if CRs in FIFA level competitions currently decide on their own or if there is someone (presumably the 4O) tasked with keeping track and making a recommendation. I bet someone on this board knows - anyone?
Portugal : Mexico - PITANA (ARG) Cameroon : Chile - SKOMINA (SVN) Australia : Germany - GEIGER (USA) Marrufo is VAR1 for Pitana. That demonstrates he's not tied to Geiger, which is interesting. It's also surprising because Marrufo is not allowed to officiate Mexico in CONCACAF. Roldan is Geiger's 4th so they are reversing roles after one rest day--Irmatov is his VAR.
How many rules are there about referees not being allowed to officiate other countries? Can other Americans officiate Mexico in CONCACAF? If yes, why is Marrufo different? Can Mexicans officiate USA in CONCACAF?
There are no official rules, per se. For Marrufo, it is a unique case. His father was a Mexican FIFA referee. Marrufo is of Mexican descent. It would just be a bad look if you put him on a World Cup qualifying game and something went wrong. It's about protecting the referee. Marrufo referees Mexico all the time when they come to the US for friendlies. Several years ago, he did Bosnia vs. Mexico in Atlanta and the Bosnian team was not happy with him. In general, they didn't like his style, but they were more bothered with the fact that he was communicating with Mexico in Spanish, but basically refusing to communicate at all with Bosnia. Most of the Bosnian team could speak English. As a player, how would you feel?
This is not totally new. Several years ago two European teams came to play friendlies in the USA. The referee who was assigned to the match between A & B was removed because he had been born in country A. (Back then most of the FIFA referees in the US were foreign-born.) Then the following week,when the same referee was assigned to the match between USA and B, he was also removed because he was a US FIFA referee and the game, even though a friendly, was refereed by a non US referee. The vast majority of all the players in both matches spoke English at a reasonable level, so language differences were not an issue. PH
Please tell me that I'm not the only one that thinks it's ridiculous that VARs have to wear their uniforms. Prior to the kick-off, of the Mexico vs. Portugal game they showed the VARs in uniform sitting down getting ready to watch the game.
It's goofy. A suit would do just fine. Uniforms aside, they nailed a critical decision on Portugal's offside "goal." Very smooth implementation, too.
I don't get these crying TV people. A black and white thing like offside really shouldn't be arguable. Close? Sure. But the criteria are pretty clear. As long as the lines they're using properly account for the camera angle (which it appears they do) I don't see what there is to argue. But I think the TV production should be showing this view for longer than a millisecond.
Supposedly they're using Hawkeye for the lines. Not sure if this is what the actual VAR looked at, but I think it is.
Seems like this one went under the radar. Looked like a bad call from the ref, but I may be biased: http://www.benchwarmers.ie/bench/watch-cameroon-had-a-goal-disallowed-with-no-use-of-the-var/122506/