Very good signal with Marrufo's trio being appointed here. Geiger goes along as a dedicated VAR. MLS Cup is on December 8th and this tournament starts in UAE on December 12th. Given travel time and the need to arrive a few days early, you would think this eliminates all four officials from this year's MLS Cup, but I suppose some sort of special dispensation is possible since each referee trio usually only gets one match. Referees Sato (JPN) Abid Charef (ALG) Marrufo (USA) [F.Anderson/Rockwell] Sampaio (BRA) Conger (NZL) Rocchi (ITA) VARs Mohammed (UAE) Geiger (USA) Vigliano (ARG) Gil (POL) Irrati (ITA) Makkelie (NED) https://img.fifa.com/image/upload/q1pc3q8egvrbhds2ehx0.pdf
I'm told the four are all going to be out of the country come MLS Cup so you can take them out of the running this year.
With the exception of Anderson none of the four really did even enough games to be considered for MLS Cup. Besides, I'm pretty sure Sibiga is getting MLS Cup this year. He's done the most games, did the All-Star game and will probably win referee of the year.
Apparently there will be one fewer referee's at the CWC. "Algerian referee Mehdi Abid Charef was removed from the list of match officials selected by FIFA for the Club World Cup, according to Ennahar, quoting sources close to the Algerian FA (FAF)." http://refereeingworld.blogspot.com/2018/11/referee-charef-removed-from-club-world.html
I saw some clips from the first leg of the CAF match in question. He went against the advice of VAR at least twice and it was all rather slow and confusing. Given what has happened to him in CAF, this isn't surprising at all. I would think FIFA would bring in a different CAF referee, but maybe not.
Sato has the opener. Rocchi 4O. Makkelie VAR. Al Ain FC (UAE) : Team Wellington FC (NZL) Referee: Ryuji Sato (JPN) AR1: Toru Sagara (JPN) AR2: Hiroshi Yamauchi (JPN) Fourth Official: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA) Reserve AR: Elenito Di Liberatore (ITA) VAR: Danny Makkelie (NED) AVAR1: Paweł Gil (POL) AVAR2: Mauro Tonolini (ITA) AVAR3: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
A annulled goal due to a foul in the APP. Seems like the CWC and WC might have completely different standards. https://streamable.com/f5avd
Was that a clip from the actual broadcast? If so, I'm fascinated that it is showing in real time exactly what the R is looking at in the OFR. Is that common?
I believe it was from the broadcast, yes. No, it's not common. It does not occur in MLS. But that's because the league doesn't control the cameras and the broadcast. With FIFA, it's a different story. Though I have no idea if this was a coincidence or a new policy (because it didn't seem to occur during the WC).
This is I think one of the main challenges with VAR. Whether that is enough for VAR to send that down is up to debate, but once you do kind of have to call it. It is similar to the PK call in the World Cup Final. Once VAR sends that down, you are practically obligated to call it, unless you're Cakir.
Seeing that UEFA and FIFA Futuro have stated that this kind of offence ("stomping on foot") is a cautionable offence, I'm not THAT surprised that this one met the criteria for an offence in the build-up of play...
I personally think this is a good use of VAR. It's a clear foul that allows the counter-attack. The yellow card, in this situation, is defensible but feels more like overkill to sell the decision. But in the grand scheme of things that's a small issue. The bigger issue is when you juxtapose this against the non-calls. The push in the Brazil match. The Pepe elbow/arm strike. There were some others. When some clear fouls (60+ yards away) negate goals but other clear fouls get "meh, not enough to be clearly wrong," you've turned the system into a secondary lottery instead of a fail-safe. FIFA got away with it at the World Cup because the standard was pretty much "we're not calling an APP foul via VAR unless there's blood," so there was consistency. But once goals start getting called back for this stuff on the global stage, there needs to be consistency in the other direction.
Cautionable, but not always cautioned. This sort of result can still be careless or reckless, with a lot of factors coming into play. Again, I personally think this one is more careless (particularly since it wasn't even obvious enough to call a foul in real-time). Caution is defensible, but I felt it was unnecessary here.
Kashima Antlers (JPN) : CD Guadalajara (MEX) Referee: Bamlak Thessema Weyesa (ETH) AR1: Zakhele Siwela (RSA) AR2: Waleed Ahmed Ali (SUD) Fourth Official: Wilton Sampaio (BRA) Reserve AR: Rodrigo Correa (BRA) VAR: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA) AVAR1: Mohammed Abdulla Mohammed (UAE) AVAR2: Bruno Boschilia (BRA) AVAR3: Danny Makkelie (NED) Espérance Sportive de Tunis (TUN) : Al Ain FC (UAE) Referee: Jair Marrufo (USA) AR1: Frank Anderson (USA) AR2: Corey Rockwell (USA) Fourth Official: Ryuji Sato (JPN) Reserve AR: Hiroshi Yamauchi (JPN) VAR: Mark Geiger (USA) AVAR1: Paweł Gil (POL) AVAR2: Toru Sagara (JPN) AVAR3: Mauro Vigliano (ARG)
River Plate – Al Ain Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA) Assistant Referee 1: Elenito Di Liberatore (ITA) Assistant Referee 2: Mauro Tonolini (ITA) Fourth Official: Ryuji Sato (JPN) Reserve AR: Toru Sagara (JPN) VAR: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA) AVAR 1: Pawel Gil (POL) AVAR 2: Hiroshi Yamauchi (JPN) AVAR 3: Mark Geiger (USA) Kashima Antlers – Real Madrid Referee: Wilton Sampaio (BRA) Assistant Referee 1: Rodrigo Figueiredo (BRA) Assistant Referee 2: Bruno Boschilia (BRA) Fourth Official: Matthew Conger (NZL) Reserve AR: Tevita Makasini (TGA) VAR: Mauro Vigliano (ARG) AVAR 1: Abdulla Mohammed (UAE) AVAR 2: Elenito Di Liberatore (ITA) AVAR 3: Danny Makkelie (NED) Geiger and Makkelie in VAR duty.
Conger with the 5th place match. If the final is River-Real, Marrufo appears to be odds-on favorite now.
River got eliminated. Actually this should help rather than hurt Marrufo's chances, since it takes Sato out of the equation, and Sampaio and Rocchi are very unlikely to get a semi+Final combination. It's probably either Marrufo or Conger.
2018 Club World Cup Final Real Madrid vs Al Ain REF: Jair MARRUFO (USA) AR1: Frank ANDERSON (USA) AR2: Corey ROCKWELL (USA) 4TH: Wilton SAMPAIO (BRA) RAR: Zakhele SIWELA (RSA) VAR: Danny MAKKELIE (NED) AVAR1: Mark GEIGER (USA) AVAR2: Bruno BOSCHILIA (BRA) AVAR3: Mauro VIGLIANO (ARG)