Which is a real shame, because Barton is a better referee than Ramos by a fairly large order of magnitude, in my opinion.
Villarreal is AVAR for Salzburg v Al Hillal tomorrow. He was also support AVAR on another recent match. I haven't kept track of all the VAR assignments closely, but if Villarreal isn't on the low end (which I think he is), it's at least true to say he's not getting expanded assignments where he's designated as main VAR with a referee he doesn't know. I suspect he'll be on Penso's next match. But I hope he gets a chance at main VAR without her, too. Because ultimately that's the only way to set yourself up for late round matches next year. It's worth remembering he was not paired with Elfath when he could have been in the 2022 KO stages.
I wonder did FIFA ever decide (internally, of course) whether or not there should have been a VAR intervention on the penalty Elfath awarded to Portugal (and Villarreal check-completed)?
Well they'll use reserve ARs, surely. I also believe I read there will be three decentralized bases for referee travel rather than one, to mirror the geographic divisions for the teams. Maybe the one centralized location here led to the decision to reduce "unnecessary" travel for some ARs.
Watched about 80 mins of Fluminese v. Ulsan HD. Actually entertaining match. Oliver hasn’t had much. If the goal of fifa was to keep him under the radar perfect match for that. Fluminese seemed to mostly respond to his interactions and good early on not falling for theatrics. The Korean team too had very little dissent (which I’m sure was expected).
At RIV-MON there’s at least as many River fans as Monterrey fans. This atmosphere is something else ….
22 fouls in a single half is more than your average 90 minute MLS game with Allen Chapman in the middle.