Just dawned on me that I forgot to start a thread like this. And, without it, conversations are going to be everywhere. So this thread is to generally discuss assignments. Predictions, announcement or changes, thoughts, analysis of the assignments, rumors, etc., etc. Hopefully this keeps that sort of discussion centralized and focused and allows the match threads to be about the matches! So, fire away! My first thought is that FIFA has come out with the big guns and--as expected--referees intimately familiar with VAR. The opener, Portugal-Spain and even Uruguay-Egypt were always going to have some big name referees. But FIFA has gone with three referees who also have loads of VAR experience. The next batch or two of assignments is where things have to start to get interesting.
If pattern holds, Geiger and Marrufo should be probably working Saturday on one of the four matches that day. He could really be on any of those four games. France vs. Australia would probably be the best match for him in terms of doing well. France should win comfortably and it shouldn't be overly problematic in terms of having to make big decisions.
Considering he missed a potential/possible (I thought it should have been a red) red card against France (Nigerian player had to leave the game as a result of the tackle) and, maybe, a penalty for Nigeria as well, I doubt France would object to him being on the game. Nigeria vs. Argentina is the game where I think there could be, potential, problems of him appearing on the game. Nigeria could possibly veto the assignment.
I think the opportunity to "veto" is almost non-existent in the group stage. It's more of a (late) knockout round thing. Regardless, there's no real need to put him on the Nigeria match so I doubt it will be done. On the other point about him working as a whistle soon, If Geiger is a VAR on Friday or Saturday, he could be waiting a little bit for a whistle assignment because there won't be quick turnaround in situations like that since an official needs to focus on one match at a time. We need to see the totality of these assignments for Friday to get a better handle of what's going on, but it seems like FIFA wants experienced VARs early, so you could see Geiger on one of the Group B games.
Like you mentioned in the other thread, I keep forgetting that there are PLENTY of matches to go around. For context, in 2010, Webb only had 2 group stage matches and Nishimura had 3 (ones as a 4th). With 48 matches, it feels more anxious/imminent than it really is.
Well, there aren't that many matches to go around. We're at 35 referees, nominally. It seems pretty certain anywhere from 5 to 9 of those referees will only be fourth officials, but we're still in the high 20s range which means some referees will only get one group stage match. And, it should be noted, that's not necessarily a terrible thing. Collina himself, for example, did one group stage match in 2002. Then he got a relatively benign R16 match before being set aside for the Final. We're going to be trying to read a lot into things at the end of the group stage on the referees who only get 1 match. But hopefully it will be clear; some will be the lower-strength referees who get their "one and done," while others will have only received one match to keep them clean and ready for the knockout stage.
This article names the fourth officials and reserve assistants. But, for reasons that are not entirely clear, the VAR assignments are not going to come at the same time as the on-field appointments. Quite strange, to say the least: http://punchng.com/world-cup-fifa-picks-referees-for-friday-matches/
Good point about Collina. His group stage game was a big one-England vs Argentina. For many reasons (Falklands, rematch of 1998, the Beckham-Simeone incident), I don’t think anyone other than Collina could have been on that game. I may be wrong, but I’d say we look at quality of games rather than quantity when trying to read into anyone’s assignments. If Geiger gets the whistle for a game like Argentina-Croatia, I’d say he’s in the mix for a late round game if things go well. For example, I think it’s pretty obvious why Kuipers has Spain-Portugal.
100% correct. Though the definition of "quality" can vary as the tournament unfolds. The marquee big-name matches aren't necessarily the highest quality ones. For example, if Switzerland v Costa Rica determines who finishes second in that group, then it's a pretty big match from a refereeing perspective. Geiger is already in the mix for a late round knockout match. There are a few referees--like Kuipers, Cakir, Geiger and Irmatov--who have the luxury (or burden) of only being able to play themselves out of the latter knockout stages, rather than play themselves in. Performance will always matter most, but those four referees and maybe a couple others have a tiebreaker in their corner because of their World Cup experience, lack of a national team present, and--for Kuipers and Geiger--familiarity with VAR. Rocchi also likely falls into this category, despite not being at 2014. Rocchi has that match, but still. In the case of that particular match, I think FIFA wanted a top UEFA referee who has VAR experience. The need for VAR to go well the first few matches cannot be overstated. So this was always Rocchi, Kuipers or Brych in my book.
I'm actually somewhat optimistic about VAR during the World Cup which is not something I expected to say six months ago. Of course there will be controversial moments because that can't be avoided when you play 64 high pressure football matches. Also, every slightly controversial moment will be blown out of proportion as an example of a VAR failure. But, I'm somewhat confident that it won't be an absolute disaster than scars FIFA for years.
Thanks, MassRef-Massive brain cramp on Kuipers vs Rocchi. I think we are saying the same thing about Geiger. Given he had a knockout stage game in 2014 and was the fourth on a semi, I agree he’s definitely a late round favorite. Still, he has to perform well in the games he has. I think he will perform well. I know people will point to Mexico-Panama in 2015, but one game can’t define a career.
In a different thread, there was mention of "simulated matches" for referees to train on. Thought it made more sense for this thread. Can someone explain to me how a simulated match works? What is a referee looking for? Has anyone here ever done one?
Collina said they had a tournament with 8 local professional teams that some of the referees worked for practice. I guess what that person called a simulated match we'd call more of an exhibition match.
Well it makes sense as VARs won't be at the actual stadiums. They will all be in Moscow. So no need to make travel and hotel arrangements. That's one of the reasons they can wait longer to announce.
Saturday's referee assignments are confirmed. Cunha for France-Australia and Gassama for Peru-Denmark, which is actually a huge match and one where I expected someone like Irmatov, so that does sort of confirm Gassama is in pole position coming from Africa. In Group D, it's Ricci for Croatia-Nigeria and Marciniak for Argentina-Iceland, so confederational neutrality is out the window pretty quickly, which is both smart and makes predicting assignments a lot tougher.
Maybe I'm reading too much into, but is it possible that Argentina nixed someone else? Could teams possibly have a veto option in the group stage?That they just have a preference for Europeans? At the 2014 World Cup, they played 7 matches and all of them except the first one were refereed by a European referee. They got Joel Aguilar in the first game against Bosnia and the rest were all European referees. In the group stage of that World Cup, Confederation neutrality was followed for Argentina, but not in the knockout stage. Again, probably a huge coincidence, but to have your last 7 and 7 out of 8 matches at the World Cup refereed by a European referee is highly unlikely.
I think you're probably reading too much into it regarding the "veto" angle. Think about it the other way. If Busacca and company already know Argentina has little-to-no problem with (certain*) European referees, they are more comfortable making the appointment. *I say "certain" because remember that Eriksson was one of the guys they didn't want, on top of not necessarily wanting a non-UEFA official
Interesting that despite FIFA saying AVAR1 functions as the "deputy" and AVAR2 is the dedicated assistant, the way they published the assignments for match 1 (which they finally did this morning) are reversed right now: https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/match/300331503/#match-info Practically it doesn't matter at all, but it is interesting that FIFA has confusion on even naming these roles. It really shows that this is still experimental.
Here they have it correct. https://resources.fifa.com/image/up...-pdf-2956163.pdf?cloudid=sfkme5xrf0odzcubl5ua
Trusting @ArbitroInteBlog on Twitter, mostly. Sometimes a domestic FA is announcing the appointment beforehand and there is a second source to help support his confirmation. It's pretty amazing how poor FIFA is at this right now. It's something they've done well in the past. And it's something UEFA handles with ease.