The Juventus v. Fiorentina derby – at least it’s a derby for Fiorentina fans – is probably this week’s showpiece. Daniele Orsato (above) will be in the middle. Orsato is part of the triad of top Italian referees, along with Nicola Rizzoli and Gianluca Rocchi. I’ve noticed that Orsato has been taking several big games lately as his profile rises. This could also
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The Professional Referee Organization has locked out the regular MLS referees as of March 7. The March 8 and 9 opening games will go ahead with replacement referees. On February 22, Professional Soccer Referee Association (PSRA), the union that represents referees in US and Canada, voted to authorize a strike. Their big beef has been with the organization MLS created
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Here are the referees for the upcoming Premier League matches on March 8. Note: These are not FA Cup matches, but are regular fixtures. FA Cup will be March 8 and 9. Obviously the biggest match is Chelsea v. Spurs, since Chelsea are sitting in first place and Spurs are scrabbling for Champions League football next year. Mr. Wunderkind, Michael
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The referees for the FA Cup sixth round ties, to be played this upcoming weekend March 8 and 9, have just been announed Obviously, the biggest match will be Arsenal v. Everton. Though both teams have cooled off in the past couple of weeks, they’ll be wanting a good showing here, so this is likely to be a great game.
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As you may recall, Manuel Pellegrini blamed his team’s loss to Barcelona in their Champions League tie on the referee, Jonas Eriksson of Sweden (who happens to be very highly-rated). Look, a lot of managers do that. I don’t like it and I don’t respect managers who do it. But it happens. But this was a whole different level. It wasn’t just
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How’s that for sensationalistic headlines? It was supposed to be a quiet weekend for Howard Webb. All he had to do as the fourth official at Hull City v. Newcastle was to stand around, looking intimidating. (As he does.) Unfortunately, all that training as a policeman had to come into play, because Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is just a crazy
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I’m a little late to the party on this, but several people have asked me what I thought of the red card in the Tottenham v. Dnipro wonder match in Europa League on Thursday. The basics: Roman Zozulya (who had scored earlier to put Dnipro up 2-0 on aggregate) finally had enough of Big Jan Vertonghen literally walking all over
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 