Club World Cup Refereeing [Rs]

My “ARs won’t actually call close offside decisions at all” by WC30 prediction is looking better and better.

 

First tranche of assignments should be coming tomorrow, if not today. Do we know when the opening press conference is?

 

I think you can safely say FIFA is treating this as a different level of tournament now. There will be plenty of minor matches (with embarrassing attendance) at the event, but I suspect the Final itself will be a big deal.

 

Al Ahly : Inter Milan - FAGHANI (AUS)
PSG : Atletico Madrid - KOVACS (ROU)
Bayern : Auckland City - SY (SEN)
Palmeiras : Porto - MARTINEZ (HON)
Botofago : Seattle Sounders - NYBERG (SWE)

Faghani with the opener when it could have been a European or South American is a bit noteworthy, but Faghani is also the most veteran FIFA guy there is so also not. Marciniak is the 4th there, who I thought would actually get the whistle for what it's worth.

Kovacs getting PSG right away again feels weird and avoidable, but also kind of a shoulder shrug moment.

Sy appointment feels right; that game should be lopsided.

Martinez gets what, on paper, could be the go-through match there. So that is likely to be better than what some other CONCACAF referees get and he gets an MD1 match, so a good opportunity there.

Nyberg gets a match that will have a huge crowd, as a home Seattle game. So while on paper it's the least high-profile, in practice it might actually be the best/toughest (and most fun?) game of the cohort--aside from the opener, of course.

 

https://x.com/ArbitroInteBlog usually has them first.

https://x.com/fifamedia?lang=gu usually officially confirms them at major tournaments, but not always

 

Will be interesting when they choose to deviate. I expected strict for most or all of the group stage. But unless there are major upsets it will become impossible at some point.

I'd say Ramos, too (at least for me, as he's exactly who I had there). I'm also not surprised by Tantashev given the neutrality and the options.

If a European had to slot there, it had to be someone pretty big inherently (with maybe Eskas being least high-profile?). I kind of expected Makkelie. But putting Turpin there keeps him clean for stuff later; I don't think it's a signal at all.

Looking to the next expected set, Inter Miami v Porto sort of stands out. If it's neutrality and you aren't repeating anyone... and you probably can't have an Argentine referee (Miami)... and maybe you don't want a Brazilian referee (Porto)... what are you left with? Either Ghorbal or a lower profile CONMEBOL guy, right? I guess maybe Abatti slots in and FIFA doesn't care, but Messi/Miami could complain about anything so inviting something pre-game seems unnecessary.

 

Some relevant stuff on the Ref Cam and VAR. https://www.france24.com/en/live-ne...otage-won-t-show-controversial-incidents-fifa

Ref Cam will show saves, goals and few other select things. They will not show controversial incidents (for now), which is a choice.

VAR images will be broadcast live in the six NFL stadiums used. Public announcement will continue, as it has occurred at other FIFA events.

I guess the unstated part of the story is that (unless no one thought this through) Ref Cam will not be an angle used for VAR. Because if you're showing the VAR live and you are explicitly not showing Ref Cam publicly on penalties and red cards... well, logic and all. The only two options are that, yeah, no one thought this part through. Or FIFA is deliberately not going to use a camera angle it has access to in order to change major errors, which would be a hell of a thing.

 

It looks bad. But I think the argument that the foul is only careless and it wasn’t SPA is defensible. It’s a spectacular fall because it’s the right leg tackling while the ball is played on the other side, but other than missing the ball by a lot, none of the reckless aspects are really there.

That said, I think most watching would expect a yellow. One of those weird spots where you get the 2CT in EPL because of the philosophy they have around them, but you don’t in a FIFA tournament opener against the home team who has like 8 players who are already borderline impossible to control.

 

So the protocols around Ref Cam just seem to be a lie. A replay of the penalty decision tonight was broadcast. Carry on, I guess. But that’s weird.

 

Actually, I find it pretty amazing Collina gave a press conference where he said “this will not happen” and then it happened in the first game.