PLAY THE ADVANTAGE

Marco Rodriguez of Mexico and his love of hair product (see above) will open the proceedings on Tuesday with Italy v. Urugay. Mark Geiger of the US is his fourth official.

Djamel Haimoudi of Algeria has been invited back for Costa Rica v. England, who have only their pride to play for now. Portugal’s generally excellent (and quite dreamy) Pedro Proenca has Japan v. Colombia.

Interesting thing to note about the Ecuadoran team led by Carlos Vera, which are refereeing the last game of the day. Christian Lescano is doing double duty with Ecuador and Colombia, replacing Wilmar Roldan’s assistant who was sent home after wrongfully disallowing two Mexican goals.

Referee: Marco Rodriguez (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Marvin Torrentera (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Marcos Quintero (MEX)
Fourth Official: Mark Geiger (USA)

Referee: Djamel Haimoudi (ALG)
Assistant Referee 1: Redouane Achik (MAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Abdelhak Etchiali (ALG)
Fourth Official: Alireza Faghani (IRN)

Referee: Pedro Proenca (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Bertino Miranda (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Jose Trigo (POR)
Fourth Official: Roberto Moreno (PAN)

Referee: Carlos Vera (ECU)
Assistant Referee 1: Christian Lescano (ECU)
Assistant Referee 2: Byron Romero (ECU)
Fourth Official: Sandro Ricci (BRA)