Match #1- 12 June 2014 - 16:00 EDT - Sao Paulo Referee: NISHIMURA (JPN) AR1: SAGARA (JPN) AR2: NAGI (JPN) 4th: FAGHANI (IRN) RAR: KAMRANIFAR (IRN) This thread is for all pre-match, play-by-play and post-match discussion and analysis of the refereeing team. Per the forum guidelines (http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/welcome-forum-guidelines.2003380/), this thread will be heavily moderated. For more general or partisan discussions of the match, please go to the general Group thread or the individual team forums.
Any one ever heard of this Guy. I never watch Asian Football so maybe he's number 1 in J League. Happy to see Iranian refs there too
He is, in my view at least, the top Asian referee, and near the top in the rest of the world. I thought he was one of the best referees at the 2010 World Cup, and he was rewarded by being appointed as the 4th official for the final. But as @MassachusettsRef has pointed out before, the international powers that be seem to like Irmatov as well if not more, even in spite of his huge error at the Confederations Cup. (It's worth noting that Irmatov had the opener in 2010, and now Nishimura has the 2014 opener; that's a pretty nice stat for the AFC, even taking into account confederation neutrality.)
Too bad for Geiger, if not totally unexpected. Looking forward to the game a lot (obviously), hope Nishimura does well. I enjoyed his games in 2010, but don't think I've seen him much since.
Attached below is a link to Yuichi Nishimura of Japan. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/referees/referee=206961/index.html His assistants http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/referees/referee=196617/index.html http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/referees/referee=256711/index.html
Yes! Especially on some European boards but be careful, they don't like that somewhat condescending label. MassRef might know more specifics. PH
Nice touch by FIFA. They've made video features for each World Cup referee. Here's Mr. Nishimura's profile video. Full list of videos. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCGIzmTE4d0jb_C4Gv-H9lYtiChtAy1l4
I think if you peruse other boards, the co-favorites were Nishimura, Aguilar and Geiger. Of course, we here at BS know what Aguilar is really like (Europeans and others only see him very rarely and always see him on paper getting the biggest CONCACAF games), so we were smart enough to dismiss him. Did we overrate Geiger's chances some? Who knows. Maybe this was a close decision or maybe it was Nishimura's game from the moment it got drawn.
Don't forget that Ali Bujsaim from the UAE did the opener in '02. So three out of the last four World Cups have been opened by a referee from the AFC.
Over/under: Cautions: 3.5 Send offs: 0.5 Goals: 3.5 Admin: if you deem this to not be applicable to this thread please delete or create it's own thread. Thanks.
Saw the SAR managed to get to the mass confrontation pretty quickly. Very hands-off approach, but seemed to work.
I don't know what Macca was thinking -- clearly intentional elbow. I thought he might use it for that BRA free kick from the left flank, but I think the instruction might be to use it for more central kicks where the wall really matters. Perhaps they don't use it unless there are a certain number of players in the wall?
Referee saw it but was too afraid to give the red. Red in any other game. What is the suspension length for a straight red in the world cup?