Top Mexican FIFA referee and World Cup candidate Roberto Garcia was injured in December 2016, few days before he refereed the FIFA Club World Cup Final in Japan, for which he had already been assigned. He had a muscle discomfort that turned out to be a muscular tear from which he began to be rehabilitated once he returned from the Far East. However, despite the medical care provided, he has not fully recovered yet. Recently, Garcia (photo) attempted the required fitness tests, but felt pain and chose not to finish. As a consequence, CONCACAF decided to replace him with Cesar Ramos for the FIFA World Cup qualifier Panama – USA on 28 March 2017.
Another international referee, Paul Delgadillo, is also out of the circuit since he was injured on Matchday 5 of the Clausura 2017. Same as Garcia, he took the rehabilitation as recommended; however, when he wanted to do the fitness tests could not finish because he had pain in the affected body part.
Finally, Francisco Chacon is another FIFA referee who has not refereed a single minute since the end of 2016. While he was doing weight work at the gym, one of them fell on his right foot, fracturing it, reason why Dr. Rafael Ortega operated it in Guadalajara, so he is already running, but he is not yet fit to do the fitness test.
Source: Marca
Source: Marca