Brazilian ARs with improvised flags in World Cup Qualifiers

A very unusual event occurred this week during the World Cup qualifier Chile – Argentina. The assistant referees of Anderson Daronco had to improvise due to an oversight in their match preparations. The detail seemed imperceptible, but it was exposed in a video taken during the match.

Brazilian referee Anderson Daronco was accompanied in Chile by his compatriots Fabricio Vilarinho and Rodrigo Correa as assistant referees, along with fourth official Flavio Rodrigues. Two other Brazilians, Rafael Traci and Pericles Bassols, were in the VAR room. When they arrived in the Chile they had everything ready, but before going to the stadium two of them made a mistake that they later fixed as best they could in order to start the game on time. 

The protagonists of the story were the assistant referees, Vilarinho and Correa, who forgot their flags at the hotel before heading to the field. They realized their error when they were already in the stadium, with the aggravating circumstance that they were there with just enough time to try to solve the problem and be able to start the match. 

In these circumstances of uncertainty, they took into consideration an alternative and ended up using it. They both asked for two sticks and tied two yellow safety vests. Despite the fact that the TV broadcast did not focus directly on the assistant referees, there was a moment that allowed the viewers to witness what happened. 

It was the 19th minute of the first half when the match was stopped due to a foul suffered by Angel Di María, the scorer of the first goal that put Argentina ahead. While the player stayed on the ground, it was possible to see how one of the assistant referees had the stick in his hand and the vest that replaced the flag can be seen in the TV image.

This situation immediately drew the attention of the refereeing community, since they are assistant referees who are used to important matches and have great experience, but this time the situation led them to look for an improvised "Plan B" to be able to go out on the field of play and assist the referee. In any case, the two ARs managed to fulfill their task despite the embarrassing detail. It also helped that there weren't any key plays that generated controversy related to offside or any instance where the referee had to go to them. However, CONMEBOL immediately suspended FIFA assistant referees Fabricio Vilarinho and Rodrigo Correa for 4 months due to "failing to comply with the requirements of their roles by not bringing the flags necessary to carry out their work and putting at risk the normal organization of the match”.

Source: Infobae