General Appointments Discussion

Thus far, named referees without a whistle:

Falcon (ARG)
Mendez (BOL)
Alves (BRA)
Ospina (COL)
Aragon (ECU)
Ortega (PER)
Penso (USA)
Herrera (VEN)

And there are only four matches left. I'm not even sure those assignments will come from the four above, either.

The one saving grace here with Ramos and Escobar already re-used is that it does appear Elfath is in line for a QF match. He can't work Group C and probably won't be able to work Group D as they are then paired with Group C immediately. So an A/B QF seems in the cards.

 

I'd say "best laid plans," but that would give credit to CONMEBOL for having a plan.

 

United States : Uruguay - ORTEGA (PER)
Bolivia : Panama - ALVES (BRA)

Brazil : Colombia - VALENZUELA (VEN)
Costa Rica : Paraguay - FALCON (ARG)

Ortega was in Qatar but only as a 4th. I can't quite tell if CONMEBOL planned poorly and their hand was forced here (where a bigger name is necessary) or if Ortega would normally be in line for a match like this.

The Alves appointment, though, is something. Goal Differential could really matter there and unless Bolivia simply lays down, that could be a feisty affair. Somewhat reminscent of the Frappart appointment in Qatar, but I would argue with tougher teams/circumstances and with a less qualified referee.

I have a feeling Monday will be very, very interesting from a refereeing standpoint.

Tuesday seems a lot more straightforward. The only thing interesting is that Penso was not afforded the same deference on Paraguay-Costa Rica as Alves was on Bolivia-Panama. Paraguay-Costa Rica is probably a less dangerous fixture, but Alves couldn't go there and CONMEBOL couldn't give Penso this honor first or only, so here we are.

It does seem like things now all line up for Elfath getting a QF and Ramos getting a SF, right?

 

Who knows. I was just thinking timing and order of operations. Qualification might matter, too. If the US sneaks through and Mexico doesn’t, that maybe makes things straightforward. Vice versa, same thing.

So yeah, default is it could go either way.

 

Wow.

 

Argentina : Ecuador - MATONTE (URU)
Venezuela : Canada - SAMPAIO (BRA)

Feel like it's somewhat clear how this will go now, right? If Elfath is done as reported, Ramos will get Colombia : Panama and Herrera will get the Brazil : Uruguay match? Or maybe Ramos gets a semi instead.

Not sure how Roldan and Valenzuela fit, though. You would think they are both on deck for a match but both now need their teams to lose. If you end up with Argentina-Venezuela and Colombia-Brazil, you could be really restricted. But Ramos (or Escobar!) on Colombia-Brazil would be fun and hilarious.

Maybe they just put all the names in a hat and see who comes out.

 

If Tello isn't getting a KO match in Europe, I can't imagine Mariani gets anything here. But who knows, maybe Rizzoli sacrificed one of CONCACAF's two KO slots to him!

 

Mendez, Penso, Aragon, Opsina, A. Herrera.

Birthdates are gone from the FIFA database, but...

Mendez has been a FIFA since 2017.
Aragon since 2020.
Penso is obviously a separate case.
Ospina since 2019.
Herrera since 2017 AND he had a whistle at Copa 2021.

I mean, if the argument is you need fourths at an event like this in the U.S. because of travel, I get it. But then name them as 4ths. One hopes they knew they wouldn't see whistles, but I doubt it.

Just what a bizarre way to assign this tournament all-around. Except maybe for the way Group A shook out, none of it really makes any sense.

 

It's up there. Though there has been some odd stuff at Gold Cups--of course, maybe our expectations have been lower there.

AFCON and Asian Cup have had their fair share of oddities, too, of course. But for a tournament that I think wants to bill itself as a competitor to EUROs overall, it just comes up short in so many different ways.

 

They might have to.

Unless they allow a referee to do a match in the semifinals even though their country made the last four, they could be in a serious jam. And it looks like--get this--CONMEBOL has never done that! The last time a referee worked a semifinal with his team still alive was 1979 and that's when Copa had two-legged semis and no fixed host nation.

If you end up with Argentina-Venezuela and Brazil-Colombia, truly, who are you going to appoint? Top two nations are out plus Valenzuela and Roldan, who are considered the best performers. Got to presume Matonte doesn't get re-used either, right? So you'd be left with...

A CONCACAF referee on one, I guess. And...? Maza of Chile, probably?

Of course, you might need Maza for the final at that point, unless you just reserve a losing semifinalist referee for that.

Needing to use Ortega on a semifinal is not actually that insane. I think CONMEBOL really needs Canada to beat Venezuela so Valenzuela is available for the final.

 

Yes, but..

We'll see if this holds.