General Assignments Discussion

He has been hurt by poor ARs before... it's easy to slide a different AFC AR over, and how about this hypothesis: he wasn't brought with the idea that he would get a game, but through training and off filed conversations he stood out, or who knows maybe just got people's attention by being a great guy who cheered on others in training, or any of 100 things like that, so Curacio opens up an opportunity for them to reward him in a low risk enviornment.

 

I mentioned the same thing but I think it was about MLS when people here showed certain refs had dozens if not over a hundred fourth official assignments but zero centers. It was funny to me that I guess PRO just had to assume or hope that the center didn’t go down and put an unqualified person in there

Obviously I know very little about assignments in general, but it definitely seems like at the professional level there quite often where the fourth official slot is treated more like a ceremonial “you’re not good enough to actually ref the game but we want you to be here for some reason” position and not like a “you would actually have to ref the game if something happens to the center” position

 

I don't think it will. Referee would have to hurt in like the 10 minute for it to have any true material impact in terms of managing the match.

In addition, you have VAR as the safety net.

Has there ever been a referee that had to leave the game at a World Cup?

 

Right, when I use the term “unqualified” it doesn’t mean I think that they are not a good ref. But if someone just gets tons and tons of fourth official spots but never is viewed as “good enough” to be a center referee, yet then would be placed into the referee slot if something happened to the center, PRO or FIFA or whoever would be happy with that?

But really, given how rare it is for such a situation to arise, I think that just hoping it never happens is a reasonable path to take… until it does.

 

Herrera from Argentina? I don't think he's been assigned in any capacity to date.

 

I would think that given the sheer number of games along with the heat and travel it’s becoming almost an inevitability but since we are talking about predicting the future everyone can speculate freely

 

Given the Ning appointment, and their lack of any involvement whatsoever, I'd be surprised if Claus, Herrera and Al-Ali don't get some sort of low key appointment. Relatively straightforward to shift an AR from one of the other two Brazilians/Argentinians to Claus/Herrera (although that obviously hinders their centre ref's ability to be appointed). Less clear on Al-Ali. Presumably that would mean having to work with an AR he's never worked with before. Does seem strange to send referees with just one AR and then intend to use them. Also means far more 4O appointments for the other support referees than might have been necessary.

 

First time a Chinese referee has taken charge of a World Cup match in 24 years. I suppose with this being expanded that it was bound to happen but congratulations to Ma.

 

As it has now been spoken into the universe, watch Turpin go down 13 minutes in……

Hope it doesn’t happen.

 

I hope it doesn’t either. Katia Garcia is 4O. That would be bad.

 

That’s Reason 1A why i hope it doesn’t happen.

Reason 1 is I think Turpin is a really, really good referee and is a great choice for this game.

 

I mean, does PRO really value the 4th official position? It seems like half the games every week has the 4th position manned by PRO2 referees who are assigned to the MLS Next Pro game the next day. USL assigned referees aren't doing the 4ths in MLS. I would assume they're closer than MLS Next Pro officials most games.

MLS Next Pro is a large step down from MLS. We can argue that USL is large step down from MLS given how far the gap is from a player perspective from a USL starter to MLS backup.

We've also seen MLS referees assigned to a game on Wednesday and flown to another venue for a Saturday match. We've seen NWSL referees have a whistle on Saturday and then be in the VAR booth on Sunday. This is an indicator of being short-handed on capable referees moreso that value of the 4O position.

 

Just like some guys hit .330 at Triple-A, but .250 in MLB. Playing in front of 6,000 and 26,000 affects some people differently.

Mark Kadlecik is a case in point. Fine ref, incredible understanding of the rules. Last I heard he was working on ref development and education. Early in his career he got a ton of MLS centers, but he had a bad habit of losing control of matches. Later in his career he was basically a 4th official. If he had to step in and run the field, he most likely would've done fine.
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The only reason I would Katia taking over ENG/CRO would be problematic would be the provincial attitudes from the hysteric media.

I remember getting home from South Africa in 2010 in time to catch some huge knockout game (featuring Spain if I recall) with Carlos Batres in the center. Some ex-England player was on the US English Language halftime show and was clearly showing his ass by complaining that such an inexperienced referee from Guatemala should never have been appointed to such a match as there's no way he had anything that would prepare him for that kind of thing. Nobody called him out on that. But I guess USA/Mexico World Cup Qualifiers (including at Estadio Azteca) probably didn't get much coverage in England.

Sigh.

 

Ha, I was kinda waiting for Nyberg to get CONCACAF'd by Panama tonight. It almost happened at the end of the match but Ghana diffused it themselves cuz Semenyo was the one about to go crazy and they need him too much to have him get a red card. Panama was trying hard though.

 

Yeah. Just weird.

So surely, they will roll out some special uniform for the Final?

 

I may wind up with egg on my face if it ends 6-0 but I think people are misreading the Ecuador-Curacao match a little. Ecuador is strong defensively but they’re rolling with the fossilized remains of Enner Valencia at striker. They don’t score a lot of goals. Curacao may lose 7-1 to Germany but they’ve shown they can be competitive with upper-mid-tier CONCACAF teams, and Ecuador on the wrong day is easily at that level.

I don’t think it’s out of the question that Curacao can get at least a draw out of that match. And Ecuador absolutely need to win, if course.

Also bear in mind that goal difference will matter a ton as Ecuador is likely to be the third place finisher in that group.

It’s still a relatively low risk environment but I think it’s a whole two tiers above the Germany-Curacao game.

 

Yeah, I completely agree with this.
It is well, well within the realms of possibility that this game is a total s**tshow for refereeing.

 

It happened in the Intercontinental WC playoff final, an Olympic semifinal and a Champions League knockout match (before the game) in the last two years and at Euro '96+2000.