FIFA Referee Carlos Torres (Paraguay), who is still recovering after undergoing surgery on the meniscus over a year ago, announced that the treatment takes longer than expected and, after reflecting with his family, decided to retire from active refereeing. Torres said that, however, he will not quit refereeing completely, but will join the Referees Department of the Paraguayan Football Association and will help with the recruiting and training of new referees.
Torres started refereeing at age 16 and remained active until last year, when he got injured. He recalled its way through the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2007 Copa America, as well as his first appearance in a first division match, Caaguazu – Colombia, in December 1990. On the international list since 1998, Carlos Torres enjoyed his career, but regrets that he was not able to referee at a World Cup, although he was pre-selected by FIFA on the initial list for South Africa 2010. When asked about the current difficult time for the Paraguayan referees, Torres mentioned a big gap in the training of new referees. “Carlos Amarilla is the only referee from the old guard and the young referees need much work. Instead of giving four or five years to a referee to develop, we want him to be perfect in one or maximum two years, which is not possible”. Torres made the comparison with Italian football, where the referees go through a process of 20 years from the starting moment until they get to referee in the first division. On the other hand, Carlos Torres is against the suspension of the referees. He said that suspending a referee for six months for a technical error does not make sense, because that referee will not improve their performance, but the opposite. "Let's make an analogy with a player who misses a penalty, if you do not say anything and let it out for six months, it does not mean he is going to come back and convert the penalty," he said. Torres suggested that technical errors, such as the appreciation of a play, must be analyzed and, if it was a mistake, the referee will not referee next week, but he should not be suspended for six months.
Juan Angel Napout, president of the Paraguayan Football Association, confirmed that Torres will join the team led by Ubaldo Aquino. "When Torres was injured and had surgery, we talked to him about the possibility to work in the referees department, his priority was to recover. Unfortunately, the recovery did not work well for him and came to the conclusion that it will be very difficult to return as a referee, so we talked again with him, as Ubaldo Aquino did as well. Our referees will benefit from his experience. All former international referees who retired are now working in the development of referees in South America, as occurs with Oscar Ruiz and others", said Napout.
Visibly moved, Torres announced that his farewell match will be this weekend, when he will act as a fourth official in Paraguay's first division.
Source: ABC Paraguay
