By Andrew Warshaw
May 14 – With goalline technology on the horizon, FIFA has selected the 10 referees for the forthcoming Confederations Cup in Brazil – with all of them in pole position to be sent to the World Cup next year unless they mess up.
One of the officials is Chile’s Enrique Osses, widely criticised for failing to send off a player he booked twice during a Libertadores Cup tie between Uruguay’s Nacional and Ecuador’s Barcelona in Montevideo.
Osses, reknowned in his own country for being involved in a number of contentious domestic games, gave Nacional defender Alejandro Lembo a second yellow card in the 77th minute but failed to produce the red and the player, who had started to walk off the field, changed his mind and stayed. Osses finally showed Lembo the red card five minutes later.
His performance was widely criticised in both countries as well as his homeland and the Ecuadorean federation demanded an “exemplary punishment” for him.
All the officials for the Confederations Cup have been monitored for two years by former international referee Massimo Busacca, now FIFA’s head of refereeing.
Busacca said: “These officials are all potential candidates for next year and such high-profile tournaments are key to their preparation. Like their other colleagues on the open list of 52 overall candidates for 2014, they can officiate matches at any level. We are convinced that they will deliver the quality for which we strive.”
“We prepare like a football team, like players do, paying special attention to uniformity and consistency, fair play, protecting players and the tactical approach.”
England’s Howard Webb, who refereed the 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands and the 2010 Champions League final, is also among those selected. Webb is one of four European referees chosen, alongside Bjorn Kuipers of the Netherlands, Pedro Proenca Oliveira Alves Garcia of Portugal, and Felix Brych of Germany.
The other referees are: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan), Yuichi Nishimura (Japan), Djamel Haimoudi (Algeria), Joel Antonio Aguilar Chicas (El Salvador), Diego Hernan Abal (Argentina) and Osses, whose full name is Enrique Roberto Osses Zencovich.
The Confederations Cup, which kicks off on June 15 and runs for two weeks, features goal-line technology for the first time at a major international tournament after its successful trial run at the 2012 Club World Cup in Japan.
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