And if you notice, ARG had all 3 knockout games against European teams, and a UEFA ref on all three of them. That makes me wonder if they didn't get a message to Busacca basically saying that they were cool with a top UEFA ref even at the expense of confederation neutrality. Hard to imagine that it just happened to them. BTW, as far as I remember, the only knockout game that broke neutrality that didn't involve ARG was the MEX/NED game.
Is anyone else surprised that Nishimura is put on a Brazil game, albeit as a 4th in a semi-meaningless game?
Wass MassRef did say the 3/4 assignments are the most political. Maybe FIFA felt an obligation to sate AFC, although I think that would have been accomplished already giving Irmatov a half dozen matches. Plus this high-profile assignment kind of supports Nishimura professionally and shows everyone that a mistake like his doesn't end your tournament.
If all this plays out to be true, what has Webb done at this WC? I may have missed some as I was in Rio for a week with no internet, but I only recall 1 game?
Not at all. Nishimura was very highly thought of to have recieved the opening game. I thought it would be either him or be Webb for a send off -- its a public recognition that the public doesn't really notice and can't really get up in arms about. (I don't pretend to track these the way some here do, but I do wonder if Webb is a threat to Geiger being the final fourth for essentially the same reason -- especially since his schedule ended up so light this WC.)
I was having this exact same thought earlier. Perhaps more importantly, he'd be a calming influence on whomever gets the match. Webb (and whichever AR went with him) would have seen/done it before. Who knows if that plays a role. No WC Final ref has returned to the next tournament for quite some time (and not since 4ths were introduced, I think), so there really is no test case for it.
No, he turned Mark Geiger into Tonya Harding. He turned Jonas Erickson into Nancy Kerrigan. "Varför jag?"
And it's Rizzoli! http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...6251ca-091e-11e4-ba5b-b9d8a4daba13_story.html
Beat me to it! But according to Twitter it looks like it's Rizzoli. Only prediction I got right at this World Cup!
Wow. I was about to say the speculation has to hurt Eriksson, but I guess he already knew. Can't claim I'm anything but surprised. By no means a bad appointment, but obviously not what I expected.
Sounds like Vera will be the fourth. Sort of strange, given they didn't use him at all during the knockout rounds--would have liked to see him get a middle. But I guess this gives UEFA/CONMEBOL balance.
Rizzoli has quite the resume now. World Cup Final, Champions League Final, and Europa League Final as well. I suspect that if Italy didn't make the Final at the last Euros, that he would have done that as well.
Agree. I get Webb only getting one knockout game, but I never understood why he wasn't used more in the group stages. That's what was so baffling. I think Busacca didn't want Webb there so they just gave him the minimum. You can't leave one of the best referees in the world at home, but to only use him for two games is a waste of his time.