Former Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez, who attended three World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014), revealed public allegations about the current FIFA referee Fernando Guerrero. “He always visits us at the hotel”, said Nahuel Guzman, goalkeeper of UANL Tigres, Mexico's top club, publicly. It's about FIFA referee Fernando Guerrero and his behavior between matches. “If this is proven during the investigation, it should be a sufficient reason to disqualify the referee and refer it to FIFA”, thunders one of the greatest referees in history, three-time World Cup participant, Marco Rodriguez. Argentinian Nahuel Guzman probably spilled the beans by accident. While giving an interview, he talked about the circumstances in which he saw a red card in the recent play-off final of the Mexican Primera Division. The UANL Tigres team, for which he is the goalkeeper, played against CF America at the Azteca Stadium. Mexican FIFA referee Adonai Escobedo showed Tigres players three red cards. In the 80th minute, with the score still 0-0, he sent Raymundo Fulgencio off. In the 95th minute, i.e. the fifth minute of extra time, when the score was 1-0 for CF America, he showed Guzman a second yellow card and, as a result, a red card, and in the 122nd minute, i.e. the second added minute of the second half of extra time, when it was already 3-0, showed Luis Quinones a direct red card. During the interview, when Guzman was asked who was the referee of the match against CF America, and after a while it was suggested that it was "The Singer" Fernando Guerrero, who is also a Mexican FIFA referee, the Tigres goalkeeper denied and said: “Big hugs to The Singer, who always visits us at the hotel when we are in Mexico City. A good man.”
“Interesting statement by Paton Guzman and sufficient reason for the FMF to investigate the actions of an active referee by visiting teams from the Mexican league in their hotel. This high-risk behavior must be eradicated from the refereeing group, which is constantly attacked, and its honorability is questioned. If proven through the investigation, it should be sufficient reason to disqualify a referee and communicate it to FIFA, unless there is a legitimate argument provided by the referee, but I don't see how he can justify it. Why does an active referee go to a team hotel? We understand that Fernando Guerrero, a Mexican international referee, has built his career on PR tools with the media, players, and managers, however it is unacceptable under the international refereeing code”, alleged Rodriguez.
Guerrero's reputation was also recently seriously questioned by Francisco Chacon, who was also an international referee. After the match of CF America - Club Leon (2-0) in the quarter-finals of the Mexican championship, the Azteca TV expert accused the referee of helping the hosts with wrong decisions and of being their "main ally", which suggests that Guerrero refereed unfairly: "What catches my attention is the fact that Fernando Guerrero is the officially appointed referee for many CF America matches, but it seems unbelievable to me that other teams do nothing about it. Everyone knows that Guerrero is a scoundrel. "Guzman's statement and such serious comments by two former international referees damage Guerrero's image and may have a very negative impact on the course of his career since the standards in judicial matters are very high in Mexico. Mexico was one of the first countries in the world to employ football referees on professional contracts. If the FMF or FIFA investigate his conduct and confirm the allegations made by Rodriguez and Chacon, the 43-year-old Guerrero's career could end immediately.
Source: Marco Rodriguez/Chiquimarco
