PLAY THE ADVANTAGE

Sunday should be a very quiet day for the referees, and there are no particularly huge games. Therefore, there are no particularly huge names.

Of course, Switzerland are playing and that’s always huge as far as I’m concerned. My beloved La Nati have pulled Uzbekistan’s Ravshan Irmatov. He’s fairly well rated, so I’m optimistic. At least he’s not one of my favorites like Nicola Rizzoli or Felix Brych; I’d hate to have to turn on them this early in the tournament.

Cutie Svein Oddvar Moen (he’s on my List!) is the fourth official, so overall, I can’t complain.

Hopefully we can relive our glorious opener of 2010, when Gelson Fernandes (above) slotted in the beautiful, elegant winning goal against Spain.

Anyhow, the other foreign aggressors in Group E – France and Honduras – play on Sunday as well. They get Brazil’s highly-rated Sandro Ricci, arguably the most well known of the referees. Another member of my List, Peter O’Leary, is the fourth official, so clearly FIFA is doing right by me on Sunday.

Finally, Lionel Messi makes his debut with Argentina in the final Sunday game. The Salvadoran team will officiate.

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (UZB)
Assistant: Abduxamidullo Rasulov (UZB)
Assistant: Bakhadyr Kochkarov (KGZ)
Fourth Official: Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR)

Referee: Sandro Ricci (BRA)
Assistant: Emerson De Carvalho (BRA)
Assistant: Marcelo Van Gasse (BRA)
Fourth Official: Peter O’Leary (NZL)

Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)
Assistant: William Torres (El Salvador)
Assistant: Juan Zumba (El Savador)
Fourth Official: Djamel Haimoudi (ALG)

Featured photo: cbsnews.com