Referees for Games 1 and 2 of Quarterfinals
And, we’re off!
The two referees for the first quarterfinal games have been announced.
Nestor Pitana of Argentina (above) will take France and Germany, and Carlos Velasco Carballo of Spain will get Brazil and Colombia.
I’ve been especially impressed with Pitana in this tournament, so not a surprise to see him. Velasco has been solid, if not overly inspiring, but he’s a workhorse that FIFA can usually rely on so, again, not a big surprise.
Referee: Nestor Pitana (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Hernan Maidana (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Pablo Belatti (ARG)
Fourth Official: Jonas Eriksson (SWE)
Referee: Carlos Velasco (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Alonso (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Yuste (ESP)
Fourth Official: Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR)
Featured photo: Themba Hadebe, AP /AP
PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 
Mmm…not sure how I feel about an Argentinian ref…I know, it shouldn’t matter for a real pro, but Argentina is still in the tournament, and Germany is a team they fear after getting kicked out of the tournament the last two times. At this stage, they should stick to refs from countries which are already out.
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Remember, there are only 25 referees in the tournament, instead of 33 like they’ve had in the past. Several have had really rough matches, which makes them difficult to select for the higher rounds.
They don’t have the luxury of being able to eliminate refs based solely on their nationality.
Pitana is a good referee. He’ll do fine.
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Pitana has done very well in his previous matches. If they use only refs from countries that are out, there will be some howlers…. “Nishimura-san. So sorry to bother you back in Japan. But could you please board the next plane for Rio?” 🙂
If it were up to me, Kuipers, Webb, Pitana, Erickson, Ricci, Aguilar, and Cakir would be the refs under consideration for quarters, semis, 3rd place, and final.
Velasco is OK, but would not have been one of my choices.
The three refs I was rooting for–Gassama, Rodriquez, and Geiger–may get some 4th official slots, but I think they’re done on the field.
I’m hoping Kuipers, Webb, and Erickson are the picks for the final and the two semis.
But what do I know. All these guys are light years ahead of where I was in my brief (10 yr) career as a ref…..
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Eriksson is Pitana’s 4O.
Moen – the Super4O – is Velasco’s,
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Still, I think it would have been better if they at least had switched the two refs around….unless there is a particularly bad relationship between Argentina and Brazil or Columbia, naturally.
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Seems like a South American ref for Brazil v Colombia would be worse than for France v Germany…
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