MLS Referees: April 19 & 23
Here are the referees for this upcoming week in MLS.
Top referee Hilario Grajeda (above) is in Columbus, while Chicago Fire v. New England Revolution wins the Best Referee Name of the Week award, with both Sorin Stoica and Kermit Quisenberry on board.
Notice who’s missing?
Mark Geiger, the United States representative at the World Cup. It’s been a few weeks since he’s had a match, though at least one of those he was training in Zurich. I’m not sure what’s up there; is he being rested to avoid injury? Hard to say.
Saturday, April 12
Philadelphia Union vs. Houston Dynamo
REFEREE: ARMANDO VILLARREAL
AR1: Corey Parker
AR2: Matthew Kreitzer
4TH: Jose Carlos Rivero
Chicago Fire vs. New England Revolution
REFEREE: SORIN STOICA
AR1: Kermit Quisenberry
AR2: Jeremy Hanson
4TH: Baldomero Toledo
Colorado Rapids vs. San Jose Earthquakes
Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (6:00pm ET)
AR1: Mike Rottersman
AR2: Scott Kachmarik
4TH: Tyler Ploeger
Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Los Angeles Galaxy
REFEREE: SILVIU PETRESCU
AR1: Jonathan Johnson
AR2: Marco Arruda
4TH: Dave Gantar
Columbus Crew vs. DC United
REFEREE: JUAN GUZMAN
AR1: Peter Balciunas
AR2: Mark Cahen
4TH: Robert Sibiga
FC Dallas vs. Toronto FC
REFEREE: JORGE GONZALEZ
AR1: Kevin Klinger
AR2: Chris Strickland
4TH: Younes Marrakchi
Sporting Kansas City vs. Montreal Impact
REFEREE: HILARIO GRAJEDA
AR1: Ian Anderson
AR2: Jeff Muschik
4TH: Jair Marrufo
Real Salt Lake vs. Portland Timbers
REFEREE: DREW FISCHER
AR1: Daniel Belleau
AR2: Jeff Hosking
4TH: Allen Chapman
Chivas USA vs. Seattle Sounders
REFEREE: ISMAIL ELFATH
AR1: James Conlee
AR2: Brian Poeschel
4TH: Kevin Stott
Wednesday, April 23
New York Red Bulls vs. Houston Dynamo
REFEREE: JAIR MARRUFO
AR1: Gregory Barkey
AR2: Mark Cahen
4TH: Robert Sybil
PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 
Re: Geiger, he had at least one CONCACAF Champions League game recently, so perhaps he sat out MLS that week because of that, then went to Zurich. I don’t think he’s being rested. Also he does youth national team matches too sometimes, maybe he’s involved in the Dallas Cup?
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I was wondering about Concacaf. That could be it. Youth games won’t get him fit for the World Cup. Not with the UEFA guys taking two to three serious matches in Europe and at home a week. (Not that I think Geiger has a chance at the big WC games against the likes of Proenca and Rizzoli, but still…)
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I think there should be other World Cup Referee camp, training, clinic and test. He will be very busy until the end of World Cup.
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There’s one other training camp between now and the Cup and that’s it. it’s only a week. If you look at the referees like the Italians, Germans and English, they have a LOT more high-level matches in preparation than Geiger has had. At the very least, let’s hope Geiger gets a few more MLS games between now and then. US youth-level matches aren’t going to cut it if he has any chance of refereeing outside the group stages…
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