How cool is a sport where even the ball has a name? Welcome back L’Arbitre, who introduces us to a character we’ll become very familiar with during this World Cup.. by L’Arbitre Meet the latest addition to the adidas collection and the official ball of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil: Brazuca! The topic of the ball doesn’t come up very
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There has recently been a spate of press coverage about match fixing, and the possibility that some of the matches in Brazil could be affected. (Please note the some and could.) I have actually struggled with whether or not to address this here on Play the Advantage. The truth is, despite some rather lurid headlines, there is absolutely no evidence that any referee
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We’re getting closer and closer to World Cup 2014, and so naturally I’ve got my eye on the men who will be in the middle in Brazil. Undoubtedly the most recognizable man is England’s Howard Webb. Webb is best known for refereeing the final match of the 2010 tournament. He’s back as England’s refereeing representative, along with his assistants, Darren Cann
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As we gear up for the World Cup, I’m pretty chuffed to welcome the refereeing blogger known as L’Arbitre to Play the Advantage. He’s going to be sharing a series that’s all about the technology referees will use in Brazil. If you’re a referee geek like me, you’re going to love this. To start us off, he’s gone straight for the Big
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The last time France did not have a referee in the World Cup was somewhere around 1357. Or 1974. Whatever. It’s been a while. But unfortunately, Stephane Lannoy gets that ignominious “honour”. Let’s get it out of the way right now: Lannoy is a good referee. Granted, his performance at the 2010 World Cup was hardly stellar. In the Ivory
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In addition to all the usual appointment news and fun stuff, we had a couple of big stories this week on Play the Advantage. The Wall Street Journal published an article about FIFA’s referee selection process and how it basically screwed at least one referee over, but I had a slightly different perspective… In what may be a regular feature,
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First of all, how cool is it to see a feature article about World Cup referees on Wall Street Journal? Really cool, I would say. The piece, by Gabriele Marcotti and published on January 19, is titled: Fine Line for World Cup Referees Byzantine Selection Process Will Leave Top Talent Missing in Brazil I think you can get a pretty
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Now that we know who’s going to the World Cup, here are my initial thoughts on the choices. I’m focusing right now on the Europeans, since I know them best. Felix Brych, Germany Brych has been on the ascendancy in Germany for quite some time. Wolfgang Stark has been the number one in Germany until now, but over the past
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I’ll analyze this list more in the coming days, but a couple of notes: Mark Geiger from the US is in. Go, Mark. Mark Clattenburg from England, despite having had a good year, was passed over for Howard Webb, who refereed the final in 2010. Clatts is only 38, so he’ll have another shot. Europe’s referees are mostly the old
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