UEFA Champions League – Group Stage (Matchday 1)

13 September 2016
Paris St. Germain – Arsenal
Referee: Viktor Kassai (HUN, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: György Ring (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Vencel Tóth (HUN)
Additional AR 1: Tamás Bognar (HUN)
Additional AR 2: Zsolt Szabó (HUN)
Fourth Official: Peter Berettyán (HUN)
Referee Observer: Francesco Bianchi (SUI)

FC Basel – Ludogorets
Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR)
Assistant Referee 1: Dmitry Zhuk (BLR)
Assistant Referee 2: Oleg Maslianko (BLR)
Additional AR 1: Denis Scherbakov (BLR)
Additional AR 2: Viktor Shimusik (BLR)
Fourth Official: Yuri Khomchenko (BLR)
Referee Observer: Kaj Østergaard (DEN)

Dynamo Kyiv – SSC Napoli
Referee: William Collum (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Douglas Ross (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Alastair Mather (SCO)
Additional AR 1: John Beaton (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Kevin Clancy (SCO)
Fourth Official: Stuart Stevenson (SCO)
Referee Observer: Horst Brummeier (AUT)

SL Benfica – Beşiktaş JK
Referee: Milorad Mažić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Milovan Ristić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Dalibor Djurdjević (SRB)
Additional AR 1: Danilo Grujić (SRB)
Additional AR 2: Nenad Djokić (SRB)
Fourth Official: Nemanja Petrović (SRB)
Referee Observer: Patrick Kelly (IRL)

FC Barcelona – Celtic FC
Referee: Ovidiu Hațegan (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Octavian Şovre (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Sebastian Gheorghe (ROU)
Additional AR 1: Radu Petrescu (ROU)
Additional AR 2: Sebastian Colţescu (ROU)
Fourth Official: Radu Ghinguleac (ROU)
Referee Observer: Jozef Marko (SVK)

Manchester City – Borussia Mönchengladbach
Referee: Björn Kuipers (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Sander van Roekel (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Erwin Zeinstra (NED)
Additional AR 1: Danny Makkelie (NED)
Additional AR 2: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Fourth Official: Mario Diks (NED)
Referee Observer: Zbigniew Przesmycki (POL)

Bayern München – FC Rostov
Referee: Anthony Taylor (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Simon Bennett (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Gary Beswick (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Craig Pawson (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Jonathan Moss (ENG)
Fourth Official: Ian Hussin (NEG)
Referee Observer: Marc Batta (FRA)

PSV Eindhoven – Atlético Madrid
Referee: Martin Atkinson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Stephen Child (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Stuart Burt (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Michael Oliver (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Robert Madley (ENG)
Fourth Official: Harry Lennard (ENG)
Referee Observer: Alan Snoddy (NIR)

14 September 2016
Bayer Leverkusen – CSKA Moskva
Referee: Daniele Orsato (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Riccardo Di Fiore (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Lorenzo Manganelli (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Paolo Mazzoleni (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Carmine Russo (ITA)
Fourth Official: Elenito Di Liberatore (ITA)
Referee Observer: Murat Ilgaz (TUR)

Tottenham Hotspur – AS Monaco
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Gianluca Cariolato (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Filippo Meli (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Davide Massa (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Daniele Doveri (ITA)
Fourth Official: Mauro Tonolini (ITA)
Referee Observer: Juan Fernández Marín (ESP)

Legia Warszawa – Borussia Dortmund
Referee: Sergei Karasev (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Anton Averianov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Tikhon Kalugin (RUS)
Additional AR 1: Sergei Lapochkin (RUS)
Additional AR 2: Sergei Ivanov (RUS)
Fourth Official: Igor Demeshko (RUS)
Referee Observer: Konrad Plautz (AUT)

Real Madrid – Sporting
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Matteo Passeri (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Alessandro Giallatini (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Antonio Damato (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
Fourth Official: Alessandro Costanzo (ITA)
Referee Observer: Paul Allaerts (BEL)

Club Brugge – Leicester City
Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Damianos Efthimiadis (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Polychronis Kostaras (GRE)
Additional AR 1: Charalambos Kalogeropoulos (GRE)
Additional AR 2: Alexandros Aretopoulos (GRE)
Fourth Official: Lazaros Dimitriadis (GRE)
Referee Observer: Peter Fröjdfeldt (SWE)

FC Porto – FC København
Referee: Matej Jug (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Matej Žunič (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Manuel Vidali (SVN)
Additional AR 1: Dejan Balažič (SVN)
Additional AR 2: Rade Obrenovič (SVN)
Fourth Official: Robert Vukan (SVN)
Referee Observer: Alfredo Trentalange (ITA)

Juventus – Sevilla
Referee: Deniz Aytekin (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Thorsten Schiffner (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Markus Häcker (GER)
Additional AR 1: Daniel Siebert (GER)
Additional AR 2: Benjamin Brand (GER)
Fourth Official: Eduard Beitinger (GER)
Referee Observer: Sergey Zuev (RUS)

Olympique Lyonnais – Dinamo Zagreb
Referee: Martin Strömbergsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Gustavsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Joakim Nilsson (SWE)
Additional AR 1: Mohammed Al-Hakim (SWE)
Additional AR 2: Glenn Nyberg (SWE)
Fourth Official: Per Brogevik (SWE)
Referee Observer: Jaap Uilenberg (NED)

FIFA Futsal World Cup 2016 – Group Stage (Matches 1-16)

10 September 2016
Cuba – Egypt
Referee 1: Kamil Cetin (TUR, photo)
Referee 2: Pascal Lemal (BEL)
Third Referee: Ondrej Cerny (CZE)
Timekeeper: Alessandro Malfer (ITA)

Uzbekistan – Panama
Referee 1: Mohamed Youssef (EGY)
Referee 2: Khalid Hnich (MAR)
Third Referee: Adalbert Diouf (SEN)
Timekeeper: Jose Katemo (ANG)

Thailand – Russia
Referee 1: Cristian Espindola (CHI)
Referee 2: Dario Santamaria (ARG)
Third Referee: Jose Hernandez (ECU)
Timekeeper: Cesar Malaga (PER)

Colombia – Portugal
Referee 1: Fernando Gutierrez (ESP)
Referee 2: Daniel Rodriguez (URU)
Third Referee: Chris Colley (AUS)
Timekeeper: Vahid Arzpeyma (IRN)

11 September 2016
Mozambique – Australia
Referee 1: Carlos Gonzalez (GUA)
Referee 2: Chirstopher Sinclair (NZL)
Third Referee: Rex Kamusu (SOL)
Timekeeper: Lance VanHaitsma (USA)

Vietnam – Guatemala
Referee 1: Bogdan Sorescu (ROU)
Referee 2: Marc Birkett (ENG)
Third Referee: Cedric Pelissier (FRA)
Timekeeper: Sasa Tomic (CRO)

Ukraine – Brazil
Referee 1: Nurdin Bukuev (KGZ)
Referee 2: Tomohiro Kozaki (JPN)
Third Referee: Jianqiao Liu (CHN)
Timekeeper: Khamis Al-Shamsi (UAE)

Paraguay – Italy
Referee 1: Sergio Cabrera (CUB)
Referee 2: Ronny Castro (CRC)
Third Referee: Jorge Flores (SLV)
Timekeeper: Francisco Rivera (MEX)

12 September 2016
Solomon Islands – Costa Rica
Referee 1: Elvis Pena (PAR)
Referee 2: Yuri Garcia (COL)
Third Referee: Gean Telles (BRA)
Timekeeper: Daniel Rodriguez (URU)

Morocco – Azerbaijan
Referee 1: Jose Katemo (ANG)
Referee 2: Eduardo Fernandes (POR)
Third Referee: Kamil Cetin (TUR)
Timekeeper: Henry Gutierrez (BOL)

Argentina – Kazakhstan
Referee 1: Chris Colley (AUS)
Referee 2: Vahid Arzpeyma (IRN)
Third Referee: Rey Ritaga (PHI)
Timekeeper: Quoc Dung Truong (VIE)

Iran – Spain
Referee 1: Cesar Malaga (PER)
Referee 2: Jose Hernandez (ECU)
Third Referee: Dario Santamaria (ARG)
Timekeeper: Cristian Espindola (CHI)

13 September 2016
Panama – Portugal
Referee 1: Cedric Pelissier (FRA)
Referee 2: Carlos Gonzalez (GUA)
Third Referee: Fernando Gutierrez (ESP)
Timekeeper: Sergio Cabrera (CUB)

Egypt – Russia
Referee 1: Nurdin Bukuev (KGZ)
Referee 2: Jianqiao Liu (CHN)
Third Referee: Khamis Al-Shamsi (UAE) 

Timekeeper: Rey Ritaga (PHI)

Colombia – Uzbekistan
Referee 1: Ondrej Cerny (CZE)
Referee 2: Alessandro Malfer (ITA)
Third Referee: Pascal Lemal (BEL)
Timekeeper: Tomohiro Kozaki (JPN)

Thailand – Cuba
Referee 1: Adalbert Diouf (SEN)
Referee 2: Khalid Hnich (MAR)
Third Referee: Theodore Eyebe (CMR)
Timekeeper: Bogdan Sorescu (ROU)

Polish AR Sadczuk removed from FIFA List

The chairman of the Polish Referees Committee, Zbigniew Przesmycki, asked the president of the Polish Football Association, Zbigniew Boniek, to terminate the contract of Piotr Sadczuk (photo) as a professional assistant referee. Sadczuk (43) used to be AR1 in Pawel Gil’s trio in UEFA games, but he will be removed from the FIFA List. The reason given was “a flagrant violation of the rules for completion of the contract - dishonest approach to contractual obligations”.

In Poland, as part of their contract, professional referees and assistant referees make video observations of referee performances in the second and third divisions. Sadczuk was assigned to assess the work of a fellow referee, Michael Mularczyk. Apparently, he contacted the referee he was assessing in order to come to an agreement regarding the mark, which is absolutely prohibited. The case was described by the portal Weszlo.com. This is not the first problem of the Polish AR. In May 2015, following complaints that he did not complete the interval test, president Boniek requested the Referees Committee to clarify whether Sadczuk passed his fitness tests. This season, he also committed a serious mistake during the match Wisla Krakow - Ruch Chorzow, when the visitors scored a controversial goal and won 2-1.

Source: Interia Sport

UEFA Youth League – Group Stage (Matchday 1)

13-14 September 2016

Paris St. Germain – Arsenal
Referee: Jonathan Lardot (BEL, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Karel De Rocker (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Thibaud Nijssen (BEL)
Fourth Official: Romain Lissorgue (FRA)
Referee Observer: Peter Jones (ENG)

FC Basel – PFC Ludogorets
Referee: Boris Marhefka (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomas Vorel (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Branislav Hancko (SVK)
Fourth Official: Lukas Fähndrich (SUI)
Referee Observer: Andreas Schluchter (SUI)

Benfica – Beşiktaş
Referee: Bartosz Frankowski (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Marcin Boniek (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Jakub Winkler (POL)
Fourth Official: Tiago Antunes (POR)
Referee Observer: Nuno Castro (POR)

Dynamo Kyiv – SSC Napoli
Referee: Tihomir Pejin (CRO)
Assistant Referee 1: Goran Pataki (CRO)
Assistant Referee 2: Bojan Zobenica (CRO)
Fourth Official: Mykola Balakin (UKR)
Referee Observer: Vasily Melnychuk (UKR)

FC Barcelona – Celtic
Referee: Fabio Veríssimo (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Nuno Pereira (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Pedro Felisberto (POR)
Fourth Official: David Medié Jiménez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Manuel López Fernández (ESP)

Manchester City – Borussia Mönchengladbach
Referee: Gunnar Jónsson (ISL)
Assistant Referee 1: Birkir Sigurdarson (ISL)
Assistant Referee 2: Andri Vigfússon (ISL)
Fourth Official: Robert Jones (ENG)
Referee Observer: Gerard Perry (IRL)

Bayern München – FC Rostov
Referee: Jørgen Daugbjerg (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Nørgaard (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Ole Kronlykke (DEN)
Fourth Official: Florian Badstübner (GER)
Referee Observer: Eugen Strigel (GER)

PSV Eindhoven – Atlético Madrid
Referee: Petr Ardeleanu (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomáš Mokrusch (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Jakub Hrabovsky (CZE)
Fourth Official: Jochem Kamphuis (NED)
Referee Observer: Hans Reijgwart (NED)

Bayer Leverkusen – CSKA Moskva
Referee: Sergejus Slyva (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vytis Snarskis (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Sarunas Tamulynas (LTU)
Fourth Official: Christof Günsch (GER)
Referee Observer: Edgar Steinborn (GER)

Tottenham Hotspur – AS Monaco
Referee: Andrew Dallas (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Jordan Stokoe (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: David Doig (SCO)
Fourth Official: John Busby (ENG)
Referee Observer: Brian Lawlor (WAL)

Legia Warszawa – Borussia Dortmund
Referee: Roomer Tarajev (EST)
Assistant Referee 1: Aron Härsing (EST)
Assistant Referee 2: Maikel Mikson (EST)
Fourth Official: Zbigniew Dobrynin (POL)
Referee Observer: Ryszard Wójcik (POL)

Real Madrid – Sporting Clube
Referee: Frank Schneider (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Djemel Zitouni (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Nicolas Henninot (FRA)
Fourth Official: Valentín Pizarro Gómez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Bernardino González Vázquez (ESP)

Club Brugge – Leicester City
Referee: Laurent Kopriwa (LUX)
Assistant Referee 1: David Santos (LUX)
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Da Costa (LUX)
Fourth Official: Kevin Van Damme (BEL)
Referee Observer: Peter Fröjdfeldt (SWE)

FC Porto – FC Kobenhavn
Referee: Fedayi San (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Sladan Josipović (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Carmine Sangiovanni (SUI)
Fourth Official: João Borlido (POR)
Referee Observer: Alfredo Trentalange (ITA)

Juventus – Sevilla
Referee: Christian Dingert (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Tobias Christ (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Arne Aarnink (GER)
Referee Observer: Roberto Rosetti (ITA)

Olympique Lyonnais – Dinamo Zagreb
Referee: Manuel Schuttengruber (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Stefan Kuhr (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Roland Braunschmidt (AUT)
Fourth Official: Wilfried Bien (FRA)
Referee Observer: Jaap Uilenberg (NED)

McLeish: “Scotland were cheated out of Euro 2008”

Alex McLeish makes stunning revelation. The former national manager revealed he was called by an Italian journalist who claimed UEFA would not allow the Azzurri to be denied a place at the finals.

Former Scotland manager Alex McLeish has suggested his side were cheated out of a place at Euro 2008. Nearly 10 years on from a last-minute defeat to Italy, McLeish has revealed he took a phone call prior to the crucial match telling him that a Scottish victory would not be favoured by UEFA. The Scots’ dream was cruelly ended when the Italians scored from a questionable stoppage-time free-kick. Now McLeish, who himself won 77 caps for his country, has revealed an Italian journalist told him Europe’s governing body would make sure the world champions qualified instead of his team. The former Rangers boss had initially dismissed the claims but his suspicions grew during the match at Hampden in 2007 when a number of decisions favoured the visiting Italian side. The most contentious decision made by Spanish referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez was to award a free-kick to Italy in the final moments of the match, despite Scotland full-back Alan Hutton appearing to be the one who was fouled. The Italians headed home from the free-kick to crush Scottish dreams and leave their passionate fans to watch yet another major tournament from home.

In a BBC documentary, McLeish said he still has his suspicions about the refereeing performance. He said: "In the midweek before the game, I got a call from an Italian journalist. She said, 'Do you really think that UEFA will allow France and Italy not to qualify?' I said, 'Wait a minute. This is a bit controversial. We don't say things like that in Scotland’. She said, 'Listen Mr. McLeish, the whole of Italy is talking about this. If there is a 50-50, the referee will favour the Italians and the French'." McLeish insisted the suspicion around the defeat made it even harder to take. He continued: "It was terrible because I was so convinced about it. That's why the disappointment was absolutely devastating". The 57-year-old's feelings were echoed by his players. Speaking after the match, talisman James McFadden said: "I know you are not supposed to say these things but we were robbed by the referee. There have been some dodgy decisions given against us or not gone our way. It goes to prove that we were not wanted at the big championships. People didn't want us to qualify and they got what they wanted".

In recent years, football has been rocked by a series of scandals involving corruption, fraud and money laundering which has struck right at the top of the international game. Fourteen FIFA executives and officials were arrested in May after investigations over a 24-year period. In December last year, both UEFA president, Michel Platini, and FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, were given eight-year bans from football following an ethics investigation. A UEFA spokesman strongly denied allegations of any biased refereeing: "Mistakes may have been made during the game but decisions did go against each team. Mr. Mejuto Gonzalez is a highly ranked referee and one of the best in the world". Referee Mejuto Gonzalez was challenged about his performance two years after the match, but insisted: "I have nothing against Scottish football".

Source: Daily Record

Webb: “Video technology could cause remote-controlled referees”

Former 2010 World Cup final referee Howard Webb has claimed that the introduction of video technology could lead to “remote-controlled referees”. Webb was speaking in response to the successful trialing by FIFA of video technology during the Italy-France friendly match, where Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers admitted that the assistance of Video Assistant Referees (VAR), who had access to replays, aided him in two vital decisions. The first of which occurred after just four minutes, when French defender Djibril Sidibe fouled Italian midfielder Daniele De Rossi. Within ten seconds, Kuipers was informed that a yellow card and not a red would suffice. Kuipers used the assistance of one of his VAR’s in another crucial incident during the match involving a possible penalty. “In the second incident, my VAR advised me seven seconds later not to decide for penalty”, Kuipers said. “The players again accepted immediately. This trust by the players gave me a lot of confidence”. The trial was only experimental with strict guidelines that technology can only be used for penalty, red card, and goal-scoring incidents. Afterwards, FIFA president Gianni Infantino claimed: “We have turned a new page in football’s history book”. Yet with all of the apparent positives to come from the trial, Webb (photo) was still skeptical about the topic of technology, despite the fact that almost every major sport has embraced it. “When the idea of retrospective action was first brought in, it was supposed to be for incidents way off the ball, which no official could possibly have seen, but that is no longer the case”, Webb added. “Now FIFA’s position is changing and trials of video technology are taking place. Of course, we should welcome anything which helps get decisions right, but we have to be careful. If all decisions can be reviewed by video, referees on the pitch become nothing more than remote-controlled referees”.

Another topic hot on the agenda of all former referees is the issue of retrospective banning, with former Premier League referee Mark Halsey claiming on twitter that he was told to say he had not seen incidents which he had seen, so that a retrospective ban could commence. Halsey tweeted in response to the Sergio Aguero elbow on Winston Reid, where the Argentine was charged and given a retrospective three-match ban despite the fact that referee Andre Marriner can be seen looking directly at the incident. Writing about the incident in the Times, Webb claimed that he had never been told to say he had not seen incidents when he had, going on to suggest that Halsey could be trying to keep his own name in the news. “The first thing to be clear about is I can say, categorically, that I never came under pressure from the referees’ body to say I had not seen something I had during my refereeing career”, said Webb, a former technical director of PGMOL. “Halsey’s allegation is a significant one. The PGMOL has denied that any referee would come under pressure to lie about an incident but not said much more than that, which may be because they do not want to be drawn into a public row with someone they may feel is trying to keep his name in lights”.

Source: Metro

FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers – CONMEBOL (Matchday 8)

6 September 2016

Brazil – Colombia
Referee: Patricio Loustau (ARG, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Ivan Nunez (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Gustavo Rossi (ARG)
Fourth Official: Silvio Trucco (ARG)
Referee Assessor: Carlos Alarcon (PAR)

Venezuela – Argentina
Referee: Roddy Zambrano (ECU)
Assistant Referee 1: Christian Lescano (ECU)
Assistant Referee 2: Byron Romero (ECU)
Fourth Official: Carlos Orbe (ECU)
Referee Assessor: Víctor Rivera (PER)

Uruguay – Paraguay
Referee: Wilton Sampaio (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Kleber Gil (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Bruno Boschilia (BRA)
Fourth Official: Anderson Daronco (BRA)
Referee Assessor: Gaston Castro (CHI)

Chile – Bolivia
Referee: Ricardo Marques (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Rodrigo Correa (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Fabricio Vilarinho (BRA)
Fourth Official: Raphael Claus (BRA)
Referee Assessor: Miguel Scime (ARG)

Peru – Ecuador
Referee: Wilmar Roldan (COL)
Assistant Referee 1: Wilmar Navarro (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Cristian De La Cruz (COL)
Fourth Official: Luis Sanchez (COL)
Referee Assessor: Bernardo Corujo (VEN)

FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers – AFC (Round 3, Matchday 2)

6 September 2016

Syria – Korea
Referee: Christopher Beath (AUS, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Matthew Cream (AUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Paul Cetrangolo (AUS)
Fourth Official: Dmitri Mashentsev (KGZ)

Iraq – Saudi Arabia
Referee: Khamis Al-Marri (QAT)
Assistant Referee 1: Yousuf Al-Shamari (QAT)
Assistant Referee 2: Ramzan Al-Naemi (QAT)
Fourth Official: Saoud Al-Adba (QAT)

China – Iran
Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (JOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Ahmad Alroalle (JOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Issa Alamawi (JOR)
Fourth Official: Ahmed Alali (JOR)

Thailand – Japan
Referee: Mohsen Torki (IRN)
Assistant Referee 1: Mohammadreza Abolfazli (IRN)
Assistant Referee 2: Saied Alinezhadian (IRN)
Fourth Official: Payam Heidari (IRN)

UAE – Australia
Referee: Mohd Bin Yaacob (MAS)
Assistant Referee 1: Mohd Muhamad (MAS)
Assistant Referee 2: Mohamad Bin Zainal (MAS)
Fourth Official: Mohd Wahab (MAS)

Qatar – Uzbekistan
Referee: Ali Abdulnabi (BHR)
Assistant Referee 1: Mohamed Salman (BHR)
Assistant Referee 2: Nawaf Moosa (BHR)
Fourth Official: Jameel Abdulhusin (BHR)

FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers – CONCACAF (Round 4, Matchday 6)

6 September 2016

USA – Trinidad & Tobago
Referee: Ricardo Montero (CRC, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Octavio Jara (CRC)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Mora (CRC)
Fourth Official: Walter Quesada (CRC)

Guatemala – St. Vincent & Grenadines
Referee: Kimbell Ward (SKN)
Assistant Referee 1: Graeme Browne (SKN)
Assistant Referee 2: Kevin Stephens (GUY)
Fourth Official: Sherwin Moore (GUY)

Costa Rica – Panama
Referee: Roberto Garcia (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Jose Camargo (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Alberto Morin (MEX)
Fourth Official: Erick Miranda (MEX)

Jamaica – Haiti
Referee: Adrian Skeete (BRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Caleb Wales (TRI)
Assistant Referee 2: Ainsley Rochard (TRI)
Fourth Official: Rodphin Harris (TRI)

Canada – El Salvador
Referee: Valdin Legister (JAM)
Assistant Referee 1: Richard Washington (JAM)
Assistant Referee 2: Keble Williams (JAM)
Fourth Official: Karl Tyrell (JAM)

Mexico – Honduras
Referee: Mark Geiger (USA)
Assistant Referee 1: Charles Morgante (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Frank Anderson (USA)
Fourth Official: Ted Unkel (USA)

Honduras formally requested FIFA to replace Geiger

Los Catrachos wrote to FIFA about concern that Mark Geiger (photo) will not be able to handle the pressure of the Estadio Azteca after his controversial Gold Cup. The General Secretary of Honduras' FA formally requested a change of referee for Tuesday's World Cup qualification match against Mexico, a change that FIFA declined to make.

Jorge Mejia sent a letter dated Aug. 29 to Gordon Savic, who is the head of FIFA's World Cup qualifiers, requesting that American referee Mark Geiger be replaced by a different official after Geiger's performance in Mexico's 2015 Gold Cup semifinal win. In that game, Geiger gave a dubious red card to Panama's Luis Tejada in the 25th minute, awarded El Tri a controversial penalty late in stoppage time and again called a spot kick in their favor in extra time. FIFA responded that Geiger makes up part of the list of referees eligible to officiate this match and has declined to make a change. Mejia's letter references that contest as a reason the referee is not fit to call a qualifier involving Mexico at Mexico City's Estadio Acteca. “Mr. Geiger committed major errors that favored the Mexican national team and meant the elimination of a Central American team," the letter said. "The pressure that will be put on a central official in a stadium with a capacity of more than 100,000 people will be much greater than that from Mexican fans in the United States who were at the Mexico vs. Panama game." Tuesday's contest could determine whether Honduras advances to the final round of CONCACAF qualification. "We are not putting into doubt the knowledge, the honesty or the talent of the designated official, however for the reasons expressed we ask that Mr. Geiger might be substituted by a referee who might be able to bear the pressure that will be put upon him", Mejia wrote.

Source: Goal.com