CONCACAF WCQ Appointments [Rs]

So Torres becomes the second Octagonal referee who wasn't named as a Gold Cup referee, right? Herrera being the other. (as we've gone over, Radix and Fischer both named, but they were done with the final playoffs and didn't participate at group stage)

Luc-Lauziere, Pineda, Montano, Bassue, Saghafi and Vazquez are the other TARP referees who were at Gold Cup as fourth officials. Maybe Bassue snags a late whistle as a political move, but I can't see the others sneaking in since there are referees from their own countries ahead of them.

Actually, consistent with my mistake above, I forgot Walter Lopez was left out of the Gold Cup roster completely. So there are technically three non-Gold Cup referees who have got Octagonal whistles. But Lopez is a special case, given his pedigree.

 

I’ve heard Dickerson is on and Chilowicz is a bit of an open question, for what it’s worth. Sort of a trial run here, is my understanding. That’s not usually how this works, of course, so my intel might be wrong. But then again, it’s CONCACAF.

 

I believe you, because I've heard the same thing elsewhere. But isn't the timing on this weird? I don't have the circular handy, but I believe federations have had to formally submit their nominations at this point.

So, taking the case of Chilowicz... is he on the USSF nomination submission and then could get vetoed at the last second because of... a CONCACAF youth tournament? That just seems bizarre.

 

Tea leaf reading commence. Which one is "bigger?"

On paper, Elfath would have it. But I think I would argue Marrufo has the tougher match--particularly if Costa Rica is coming off a loss in Edmonton, that could be akin to an elimination game (or as close to it as reasonably possible this early). Alternatively, if Costa Rica and Honduras both get results on MD7, it's a huge battle in its own right. Still a lot of moving parts in the table so I'd lean toward the environment and traditional rivalry over table positioning right now.

Relatedly, I think it's okay to point out now that this assignment for Marrufo, coupled with his Arab Cup appointment, means he will not feature in MLS Cup Playoffs at all. He'll be in Costa Rica through the 17th and I believe has to be in Qatar by the 24th or so. I don't know all the details, but I imagine with travel requirements/restrictions, PRO just didn't think a first round assignment was feasible. So one of PRO's top-performing referees is completley off-the-table for playoffs, which is less than ideal.

 

So now just waiting on Canada-Mexico and Jamaica-United States.

Seems like some combination of Escobar and a Costa Rican referee makes the most sense, unless Escobar is getting a rest this international window.

 

He’s had complete control until a few minutes ago. But that is, by far, the worst I’ve ever seen from Barton in a major incident. Totally unacceptable. That should have ended with a VC red card to the Mexican and nothing else. Instead, his inaction and unwillingness to make a big decision resulted in two yellow cards to the team that should be up a man. Horrendous.

 

So bad. So so so bad.

I think Barton could have just played himself out of a WC.

 

The foul for the 2CT wasn’t even a foul. Particularly juxtaposed against all the times he told Musah to get up.