Does anyone know the exact list of which American officials are at the Gold Cup? US Soccer doesn't list it on their website and CONCACAF only lists who does the middle of each game. Knowing which Americans are at the Gold Cup might help in determining exactly which ones are truly in contention for WC06. So far, I've only been able to find out that Hall had the Jamaica-Guatemala match. I assume Stott's on the list as well (maybe he had one of the postponed Miami matches?), but have no idea which ARs are there and to whom they are tied.
I haven't been able to find anything either. I thought I was just being stupid in not knowing where to look.
Meaning a pure rotation? Both Hall and Stott had those 2 as their ARs? If so, what happened to Lowry?
Since it seems impossible to find a record of who's done which match, it's very difficult to spectulate. But I'd thinks it's a safe guess to say Hall or Stott for the second match. If not, one of them is working the 3rd place match or the final--whichever the US doesn't make. Since I doubt it will be someone who's already worked a US game for the first match (no Archundia, no Pineda, no Batres) I think we're unfortunately looking at someone from the pool of Navarro, Sibrian or Prendergast, who are probably the 3 most hated active CONCACAF refs by USMNT fans. I suspect whichever one hasn't worked a Honduras match as well will also be chosen.
I'd say it's a safe bet that one of Hall or Stott will get the Panama v. Colombia match. There is no 3rd place match this year. Please - Sibrian - Navarro & Prendergast have been terrible the last couple times they've done our games. Particularly Navarro.
Sibrian worked the COL-MEX match and Armando worked the CRC-HON match. The other two match reports didn't list the referee.
Here is what I found: July 6 - Panama v Colombia - BATRES July 6 - T&T v Honduras - NAVARRO July 7 - USA v Cuba - PINEDA July 7 - Costa Rica v Canada - PENDERGAST July 8 - Jamaica v Guatemala - HALL July 8 - South Africa v Mexico - SIBRIAN July 9 - USA v Canada - BRIZAN July 9 - Costa Rica v Cuba - ARCHUNDIA July 10 - Honduras v Colombia - RODRIGUEZ July 10 - T&T v Panama - WYNGAARDE July 10 - Mexico v Guatemala - RUIZ July 10 - Jamaica v South Africa - STOTT July 12 - USA v Costa Rica - ARCHUNDIA July 12 - Canada v Cuba - MORENO July 12 - Honduras v Panama - WYNGAARDE July 12 - Colombia v T&T - RODRIGUEZ July 13 - Mexico v Jamaica - QUESADA July 13 - Guatemala v South Africa - STOTT July 16 - USA v Jamaica - BATRES July 16 - Honduras v Costa Rica - ARCHUNDIA July 17 - Colombia v Mexico - SIBRIAN July 17 - Panama v South Africa - PENDERGAST
Good find. It may be completely irrelevant insofar as assignments for the Gold Cup, but it might be important to note that assignments for the next round of WCQ in CONCACAF are also out: Mexico - Costa Rica - PINEDA (HON) Guatemala - Panama - SIBRIAN (SLV) United States - Trinidad & Tobago - RODRIGUEZ (MEX) Again, could be irrelevant, but I would suspect that Rodriguez doesn't get the US semifinal because he has us in August. If I were to guess after seeing Statesman's list, I'd say: Ruiz (COL) for the USA-Honduras match and Hall (USA) for the Panama-Colombia match. They've both only had one match. Neither worked a quarterfinal. They've both been to a World Cup before. And both would be out of contention for the final should their national team win its semi. It would seem their appointments make the most sense. Then again, that might be precisely the reason we don't see either on Thursday.
Interesting that Stott has the Galaxy-DCU match tomorrow. With the timing needed to make MLS assignments, it's as if USSF knew that he wouldn't be working the final weekend of Gold Cup matches. As for the final, I'm not sure how Archundia isn't the guy. Batres seems to be the only other guy in contention, but he's had the US twice already, he had a run-in with Arena, and I think he's already reffed a Gold Cup Final. Plus, with Mexico usually around late in the Gold Cup, Mexican referees face the same problem American referees usually have, of being precluded from working semis and finals. That's not the case this year.
I think I got some interesting pictures of the refs from both games. I'll get them posted as soon as possible.