It’s definitely silly season in World Cup refereeing terms, with only three games left to go. Here are some of the totally unsubstantiated things I’m hearing. Bjorn Kuipers is Out – Dutch media are reporting that Kuipers has been given his walking papers, due to the success of the Dutch side. This is really sad for me, because it really does mean
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Marco Rodriguez of Mexico – known as “chiquidracula” partly for his love of hair product – will take the first semifinal, between Brazil and Germany. Rodriguez has had a good tournament, and what’s more, he’s proven that he can handle making tough calls. It was, after all, Rodriguez who sent off Italy’s Claudio Marchisio for a studs up challenge. This
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The refereeing performances on this second day of the quarterfinals were sure better than the first. Nicola Rizzoli (Italy), Argentina v. Belgium This is the second time Rizzoli (above) has had to step into the breach after a particularly rough outing for another referee. He followed Yuichi Nishimura’s opening day performance, and today he followed arguably one of the worst
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This is some of the worst news I could have heard, both as a fan of the referees and a lover of the game: Neymar, one of the true talents and bright spots of this World Cup, is out with fractured vertebrae. Read that again: fractured vertebrae. Make no mistake about it, Juan Zuniga – the player who went over his
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Note: My somewhat lame only “bright side” to Carlos Velasco’s performance in Brazil v. Colombia was that no one had a broken leg. Unfortunately, it now appears that Neymar has a broken vertebrae and will miss the rest of the World Cup. That challenge – which went unpunished – was the direct result of very poor refereeing and lack of control
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Since former super ref Massimo Busacca of Switzerland became head of everything referee-related at FIFA, there have been a lot of changes. The World Cup has been no exception. Some of these things (extra training and support, the requirement that referees be professional, etc.) have been super positive. He’s helped develop some fantastic referees. But some of the specific changes
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Now that we know who’s refereeing the quarterfinals, thoughts naturally turn to who will do the semifinals and the final. The truth is, I’m terrible at guessing games, and I don’t understand the things FIFA do sometimes. So, with those two things in mind, I decided not to try and make any predictions. Instead, I’ll just go through the 25
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The last two quarterfinal referees have been named for Saturday, July 5: Nicola Rizzoli of Italy (above) and Ravshan Irmatov of Uzbekistan. I’m both pleased and sad at the Rizzoli appointment; pleased because it’s a good appointment, and sad because this means he’s out of the final. But I’m not surprised; quite frankly, though he’s been good, this isn’t the
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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
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The standard of refereeing has been a talking point in this World Cup since before the tournament even started. Hardly a surprise; referee bashing should be a sport in and of itself. But while there have definitely been some issues, there have been some excellent performances, as well. I’ve watched almost every match, so I decided to go back through my
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 