Uruguayan referee Roberto Silvera will not repeat the fitness test and will be replaced on the list of prospective referees for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Silvera failed the official fitness test held by FIFA in Switzerland and was given the opportunity to repeat the tests next month in Paraguay, along with Diego Abal (Argentina) and Wilson Seneme (Brazil). In spite of being offered a second chance, the Uruguayan referee said that he will not run the tests and will submit instead a medical certificate as suffering from physical discomfort, which allows him to train and referee matches, but prevents him from having maximum physical performance during stringent FIFA tests.
Ruben Meneses, a member of the Uruguayan Referees Committee, said “the project for the 2014 World Cup demands referees to be in the same physical condition as the athletes, something that is very difficult to develop in Uruguay because the referees are not professionals. The only South American countries where referees are professionals are Argentina and Brazil, while 80% of the referees who did run the test in Europe were professional. The current test requirements exceed those for the last World Cup in regards to the 40-metre sprints: World Cup candidates are expected to get 5.8 s. When Larrionda went to South Africa in 2010, the requirement was 5.9 s.” Meneses said that Silvera’s removal from the pre-selected list for the World Cup will not impact his appointments for local or continental competitions. For Silvera, it was the second time when he was left out of a World Cup for not having passed the fitness test. The same thing happened in 2007, when he travelled along with his assistants Mauricio Espinosa and Miguel Nievas to participate at the U-17 World Cup in Korea. Before the tournament, reached after passing the test in Montevideo, Silvera underwent physical examinations required by FIFA and failed the test measuring the aerobic intensity. For that reason, Silvera was sent back to Uruguay.
Roberto Silvera became a FIFA referee in 2003 and refereed Copa Libertadores matches, the Copa Sudamericana final in 2006, Recopa Sudamericana, Copa America 2011 and CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers. Since 2006, the Uruguayan sports writers choose the best referee of the season and Silvera was always in the shadow of Larrionda. When Larrionda retired in 2011, Silvera finished second after Dario Ubriaco.
Besides Roberto Silvera (41), two other Uruguayan referees have been invited to run the fitness test on 13 December 2012 in Paraguay: Dario Ubriaco (40) and Martin Vazquez (43), who will compete for Silvera's spot on the list of prospective referees. Diego Abal (Argentina, 41) and Wilson Seneme (Brazil, 42) will also have two “reserves” ready to replace them in case they will fail again the tests: Nestor Pitana (37) and Patricio Loustau (37), respectively Leandro Vuaden (37) and Sandro Ricci (38).
Source : El Observador