Sunday 10 December 2017

2018 FIFA WC - Predictions About Match Officials - Results

These are the results of the polls about your predictions for WC 2018. 
First of all, my special thank to all readers who participated in the voting. Now I'm really proud to present the results, with a short analysis, confederation by confederation.


AFC
Ravshan Irmatov is the first option according to your opinions, with 248 votes. The experienced FIFA referee from Uzbekistan leads his confederation. The second choice in terms of preferences is represented by Alireza Faghani, the Iranian follows closely (218) and without doubts he can be sure of his call at WC. It is then very interesting to point out that we have Ryuji Sato from Japan as third ranked (204). He is ahead of Nawaf Shukralla from Bahrein (156). Fahad Al Mirdasi and Mohamed Mohammed Abdulla could be considered the reserve referees, given that they got less votes than all the other names in this confederation.

CAF 

Bakary Gassama leads his confederation as first option, no surprises on that. The Gambian will attend WC and we have important expectations in his regards. Ghead Grisha has confirmed to be a strong option as well, as he got 153 votes and he is listed as CAF number 2, among the selected officials, by our readers. The Egyptian can surely have a very good WC, in case of appointment as main referee. Interesting that he is considered ahead of a very strong name (at least in my opinion) like Zambian Janny Sikazwe (141), despite of the fact that the latter got many big appointments in FIFA and CAF games and also a major final. Malang Diedhiou is considered as fourth option by our readers, while Mehdi Abid Charef and Bamlak Tessema Weyesa seem destined to be reserve referees.   


CONCACAF
Differently from most of all the other confederations, things look quite clear in CONCACAF. We have three referees with many votes than the other ones: Mark Geiger, Joel Aguilar and César Ramos seem to have no rivals, and they all should attend WC. The first option among the "other" officials with less votes is John Pitti  from Panama, with 73 preferences. To follow, Ricardo Montero, and Jair Marrufo, very likely both reserve referees in Russia.  


CONMEBOL
It has been a head-to-had contention between Néstor Pitana and Sandro Ricci for the first place. The Argentinian has reached it. Only 4 votes separate the two contenders, however, in any case, no doubts that both will attend WC. To follow, we have Wilmar Roldán from Colombia. He is considered the third choice after the aforementioned referees. No doubts on that as well, from my side. My wish is that he can have a better WC than the previous one. Enrique Cáceres of Paraguay is seen as fourth choice. He should attend WC as well. Then, my big doubt about this confederation, is as well the one of our readers. Julio Bascuñán and Andrés Cunha are very close with a difference of only 6 votes. One of them could be main referee while the other one very likely a reserve. These results don't offer the chance to say more about that.


OFC
In this confederation the choice is clear, given that we have only two selected referees, our readers are convinced that Matthew Conger from New Zealand (124 votes) will attend WC as main referee, while Norbert Hauata (87) could be there again only as reserve, as it happened in 2014. 


UEFA
Björn Kuipers confirms to be a referee with a more than high reputation inside UEFA. Inded, he is the first ranked, according to our readers. The 44 years old from the Netherlands leads his confederation. Serbian Milorad Mažić follows closely after the Dutch, and he is confirmed as second ranked by our voters. Just 6 votes below, we have German Felix Brych, another safe man for WC 2018. Cüneyt Çakır, Damir Skomina, Gianluca Rocchi and Szymon Marciniak follow and all of them are very close. Now, the most interesting thing to point out about UEFA, at least in my opinion, is that Antonio Mateu Lahoz has a significant distance in terms of preferences from the previously mentioned officials, with 202 votes. Of course, this is still a very good result, but we can underline that, according to our readers, the Spanish is not seen like the other mentioned referees. In any case, I think he will attend WC. To follow, Russian Sergei Karasev  would be more liked by our voters than Clément Turpin, considering a significant difference of  58 votes between them. Very likely, the French will act as fourth official, while Karasev will be confirmed as main referee for WC. For more details and the official confirmations about that, we have just to wait. Thanks again for your votes.

21 comments:

  1. OT

    Uefa Referee Course on Malta
    (January 29-31)

    Elite, First and 6 referees from Second group (two of them are Jovanović and Dabanović)

    Does anybody knows other 4 names from second group? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for this very important news. I guess Massa (ITA), Pawson (ENG) and Aghayev (AZE) could be among the called officials from Category 2.
      If somebody knows more, please don't hesitate to inform us.

      Delete
    2. The second group are surely those promoted to category 1.

      I hear there is no space for winter course regulars Bebek, Nijuis, Vad and Johanessen(probably retired). As well as some other expected category 1 referees.

      It would be interesting to view last years list and compare.

      Delete
    3. Some names for Elite referee courses.
      Belarus
      Alexey
      Kulbakov
      Norway
      Svein Oddvar
      Moen
      Poland
      Szymon
      Marciniak
      Czech Republic
      Pavel
      Královec
      Poland
      Pawel
      Raczkowski
      England
      Martin
      Atkinson
      England
      Michael
      Oliver
      Portugal
      Manuel Jorge
      Neves M. de Sousa
      England
      Anthony
      Taylor
      Portugal
      Artur Manuel
      Ribeiro Soares Dias
      Romania
      Ovidiu Alin
      Hategan
      France
      Benoît
      Bastien
      Romania
      Kovacs
      Istvan
      France
      Ruddy
      Buquet
      Russia
      Sergei
      Karasev
      France
      Clément
      Turpin
      Russia
      Bezborodov
      Vladislav
      Germany
      Deniz
      Aytekin
      Scotland
      William
      Collum
      Germany
      Felix
      Brych
      Scotland
      Bobby
      Madden
      Germany
      Riem
      Hussein
      Serbia
      Milorad
      Mažić
      Slovakia
      Ivan
      Kruzliak
      Germany
      Stieler
      Tobias
      Slovenia
      Matej
      Jug
      Germany
      Felix
      Zwayer
      Slovenia
      Damir
      Skomina
      Greece
      Anastasios
      Sidiropoulos
      Slovenia
      Slavko
      Vinčič
      Hungary
      Viktor
      Kassai
      Spain
      Jesús
      Gil Manzano
      Spain
      Antonio M.
      Mateu Lahoz
      Israel
      Liran
      Liany
      Spain
      Alberto
      Undiano Mallenco
      Italy
      Luca
      Banti
      Sweden
      Jonas
      Eriksson
      Italy
      Daniele
      Orsato
      Italy
      Gianluca
      Rocchi
      Lithuania
      Gediminas
      Mazeika
      Netherlands
      Bjorn
      Kuipers
      Turkey
      Cüneyt
      Çakır
      Netherlands
      Danny
      Makkelie

      Delete
    4. @Maldun190 thank you so much, could you write a mail at law5blog[at]gmail.com ? I would have some questions. Of course, only if you want, otherwise no problems. In case, thanks in advance.

      Delete
  2. Jovanovic promotion to First Cat?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Following the results of the poll, we could have a selection of 24 referees like that:
    AFC: Irmatov, Faghani, Sato (4th: Shukralla)
    CAF: Gassama, Grisha, Sikazwe (4th: Diedhiou)
    CONCACAF: Geiger, Aguilar, Ramos (4th: Pitti)
    CONMEBOL: Pitana, Ricci, Roldan, Caceres, Bascunan (4th: Cunha)
    OFC: Conger (4th: Hauata)
    UEFA: Kuipers, Mazic, Brych, Cakir, Skomina, Marciniak, Rocchi, Marciniak, Mateu, Karasev (4th: Turpin)

    This looks like a very possible selection to me. It also fulfills some geo-political considerations in AFC and CAF.
    Furthermore 24 is a good number in my opinion, because it allows every referee to be appointed in 2 group matches. Even confederation neutrality would be possible, because there are 18 possible matches for UEFA referees, and they are a bit better distributed than last time.
    So I think, one can find a good set of appointments with this selection of referees.

    A possible MD1:
    RUS-KSA: Ramos, EGY-URU: Cakir
    MAR-IRN: Mateu, POR-SPA: Brych
    FRA-AUS: Aguilar, PER-DEN: Irmatov
    ARG-ISL: Conger, CRO-NGA: Faghani
    CRC-SRB: Gassama, BRA-SUI: Geiger
    GER-MEX: Pitana, SWE-KOR: Grisha
    BEL-PAN: Sikazwe, TUN-ENG: Bascunan
    COL-JPN: Rocchi, POL-SEN: Caceres

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think referees from a country will be appointed for matches in the same group as their country is (i.e.: Mateu Lahoz in Group B).

      Delete
    2. Yes... Mateu Lahoz is absolutely impossible in a Group B match!!

      Delete
    3. Yes, lack of concentration from my side. Then let's say Marciniak instead.

      Delete
    4. Russia 2018 MD1
      My picks:

      GROUP A
      RUS-KSA: GASSAMA
      EGY-URU: MAZIC

      GROUP B
      MOR-IRN: BRYCH
      POR-SPA: SKOMINA

      GROUP C
      FRA-AUS: ROLDAN
      PER-DEN: SATO

      GROUP D
      ARG-ICE: GEIGER
      CRO-NIG: AGUILAR

      GROUP E
      CRC-SRB: SHUKRALLA
      BRA-SWI: FAGANI

      GROUP F
      GER-MEX: IRMATOV
      SWE-KOR: SIKAZWE

      GROUP G
      BEL-PAN: GRISHA
      TUN-ENG: CACERES

      GROUP H:
      COL-JPN: KARASEV
      POL-SEN: RAMOS

      Delete
    5. Russia 2018 MD2
      Subject to change of course depending on MD1 performances

      GROUP A
      RUS-EGY: PITANA
      URU-KSA: MARCINIAK

      GROUP B
      POR-MOR: AGUILAR
      IRN-SPA: RICCI

      GROUP C
      DEN-AUS: CUNHA
      FRA-PER: GEIGER

      GROUP D
      ARG-CRO: FAGHANI
      NIG-ICE: ROLDAN

      GROUP E
      BRA-CRC: ROCCHI
      SRB-SWI: MATEU

      GROUP F
      KOR-MEX: ÇAKIR
      GER-SWE: KUIPERS

      GROUP G
      BEL-TUN: CONGER
      ENG-PAN: SATO

      GROUP H
      JAP-SEN: BRYCH
      POL-COL: GRISHA

      Delete
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      Delete
    7. Russia 2018 MD3

      GROUP A
      URU-RUS: SHUKRALLA
      KSA-EGY: MATEU

      GROUP B
      IRN-POR: RAMOS
      SPA-MOR: IRMATOV

      GROUP C
      DEN-FRA: MARCINIAK
      AUS-PER: MAZIC

      GROUP D
      NIG-ARG: ROCCHI
      ICE-CRO: KUIPERS

      GROUP E
      MEX-SWE: RICCI
      KOR-GER: CACERES

      GROUP F
      SRB-BRA: GASSAMA
      SWI-CRC: CONGER

      GROUP G
      PAN-TUN: KARASEV
      ENG-BEL: ÇAKIR

      GROUP H
      JAP-POL: PITANA
      SEN-COL: SKOMINA

      Refs with only one match in group stage: CUNHA and SIKAZWE.

      Of course this doesn't mean they cannot go through to the next phase. It all comes down to performances (although these two are unlikely to progress, even if it's Bascunan instead of Cunha).

      It took me some time but I've managed to respect confederation and even linguistic neutrality :) I really think that neutrality, both on confederation and language level, should be kept in the group stage. This shows that such thing is indeed possible (albeit not easy as I doubt either Collina or Busacca will put much effort into following these "rules"). There were even other arrangements one could make and all this happening without overlooking the suitability of referees (profile) for the importance/characteristics of the games. Regardless of how decisive these MD 3 fixtures can prove, none of the aforementioned officials would be unprepared for the mission.

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My predicitions:

      AFC: Irmatov, Faghani, Sato, Shukralla (4th: Al Mirdasi)
      CAF: Gassama, Grisha, Sikazwe (4th: Diedhiou)
      CONCACAF: Geiger, Aguilar, Ramos (4th: Pitti and Montero)
      CONMEBOL: Pitana, Ricci, Roldan, Caceres, Bascunan (4th: Cunha)
      OFC: Conger (4th: Hauata)
      UEFA: Kuipers, Mazic, Brych, Cakir, Skomina, Marciniak, Rocchi, Mateu, Karasev (4th: Turpin)

      Delete
  5. You've one Marciniak too many in UEFA Predictions :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. My prediction:

    AFC (4+2): Sato, Shukralla, Faghani, Irmatov. Mohamed and Al Mirdasi 4th officials.

    CAF (4+2): Gassama, Grisha, Sikazwe, Diedhiou. Charef and Weyesa 4th officials.

    CONCACAF (3+2): Pitti, Geiger, Ramos. Marrufo and Montero 4th officials.

    CONMEBOL (5+1) Cáceres, Bascuñán, Pitana, Ricci, Roldán. Cunha 4th official.

    UEFA (9+1). Karásev, Marciniak, Brych, Kuipers, Çakir, Mateu, Rocchi, Skomina, Mazić. Turpin 4th official.

    OFC (1+1): Conger, Hauata 4th official.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Guys, overall agree with your picks. I just have to point out that Bascunan does not really have what it takes to perform at the WC stage. Saw the 1st leg of Libertadores Cup final and it's impossible to turn a blind eye to the stream of mistakes he made in foul detection, not to mention his poor card management. It was further proof of his inconsistency. Bascunan always seems to be over-anxious on the pitch, which leads to hasty decisions. When one compares him with Cunha, for example, the latter is more reliable. In a performance-only system, I don't see how FIFA can justify his presence in Russia. He can be CONMEBOL's 4th official.

    ReplyDelete

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