Yuichi Nishimura from Japan has been appointed to the quarter-final between Netherlands and Brazil on Friday. This will be Nishimura’s fourth appearance in this World Cup, having previously refereed Uruguay – France, Spain – Honduras and Paraguay – New Zealand.
The second Asian official in action in the quarter-finals is Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov. Having been selected for three previous matches, including the opening game of the tournament, he will on Saturday be in charge of Argentina – Germany. The last time these two giants met in the World Cup was four years ago, also in the quarter-finals. That match will be remembered for the post-match melée, in which Argentinian substitute Leandro Cufre was show a red card after the final whistle. Referee in that match was Lubos Michel.
02/07/10
Netherlands – Brazil
Referee: Yuichi Nishimura, JapanUruguay – Ghana
Referee: Olegario Benquerença, Portugal03/07/10
Argentina – Mexico
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov, UzbekistanParaguay – Spain
Referee: Carlos Batres, Guatamala
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Very interesting appointments. Irmatov and Nishimura are excellent choices. Don’t know if I would have chosen Benquerenca or Batres, I feel that there are other referee’s that have proven themselves and have done better so far. It will be interesting to see who FIFA chooses for the next games as there are more deserving referee’s then games left. I have my fingers crossed for FDB for the final.
I think that they are good appointments for quarter-finals and expect to see Archundia, Irmatov, Kassai, De Bleeckere or Webb in the semi-finals or the final.
are good appointments in 1/4 finals. Batres is a game to end his career but ok.
i would like to see Webb, Stark, FDBlk, Simon, Archundia, Ruiz.
but i am almost 100% that Archundia will be the men next 11th. or FdBlk…but for that we need no europe teams in the final…and for me the final will have 1 european team…or both…;)
To be honest, I don’t think Frank De Bleeckere deserves the final appointment. Compared to other referees, he has not been as good as Webb, Irmatov, Baldassi or Archundia in my view.
I had doubts when Webb was selected for the CL final, as he is not the best referee in Europe for me, but he did an excellent job in that game. In the World Cup he has been very good, and he has had some challenging games. I would fully endorse him getting the final from the European referees.
But, I would love it if Irmatov has a great game tomorrow. If so, he must be a shoe-in for the final appointment.
Webb certainly did a great job in the CL Final, but to be honest it wasn’t that tough of a game. I think he had a bit of a rough start with some bad calls in his first game but has improved over the tournament. Irmatov came out really strong in this WC and I wish him the best of luck in the quarter finals.
Webb is 38 years old and Irmatov is only 32. Irmatov could potentially ref 3 more World Cups while this might be Webbs last one. That could be in Howards favour.
Things have changed because of the dutch. There is a higher chance that a European team gets into the final. If a European team does go to the final then..
Semi: FDB, Simon, Webb, Irmatov (all of who deserve another game)
Final : Archundia (Webb and Irmatov would be great, but they have another world cup in their future)
3rd: Either one of the refs that didn’t get a semi or possibly Damon, giving the South Africans some more face time.
But FIFA has made a number of interesting choices so really anything is possible.
{ 1 trackback }