Facundo Tello will officiate France - Morocco, the first quarterfinal of 2026 FIFA World Cup. For the first time at this tournament, the five officials on the pitch will be from the same nation.
Match #97
Quarterfinals
9 July 2026, 22:00 CET
Gillette Stadium, Foxborough
FRANCE - MOROCCO
Referee: Facundo Tello ARG
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Pablo Belatti ARG
Assistant Referee 2: Gabriel Chade ARG
Fourth Official: Dario Herrera ARG
Reserve AR: Cristian Navarro ARG
Video Assistant Referee: Hernan Mastrangelo ARG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee 1 : Lerodan Gonzalez URU
Assistant Video Assistant Referee 2 : Tatiana Guzman NCA
Standby Video Assistant Referee: : Abdullah Alshehri KSA
Good luck to Facundo Tello!
ReplyDeleteI really don't know what to think about the all Argentinian crew... when France is playing.
ReplyDeleteCool. Two of the first three comments suggest some sort of fix.
ReplyDeleteI am not suggesting anything. But why does FIFA "open" the possibility of all sorts of aftermath.
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteThe only possibility is what the optics look like, we referees on this blog should know better than to question their honour and ethics. All this should be held above board, beyond the scope of conspiracy theories.
DeleteVar crew in the staduim
ReplyDeleteNot in ibc dallas
I thought it was the support var crew in the stadium according to ArbitroInternacional
DeleteNo the main var
DeleteDesperate for Tello to have a great match to shut a lot of people up
ReplyDeleteMissed foul and yc for morocco
ReplyDeleteconfused how he missed that, seemed obvious
DeleteIts clear defender didnt play the ball and trip tge atacker
DeleteMissed yc 14 min
ReplyDeleteMissed YC for Digne (FRA). As expexted, lenient line as usual in this WC.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, that's never a first YC at this tournament.
DeleteHowever, the advantage had materialized, so bringing it back to the free kick was wrong, I think.
Agree. Too late return indeed.
DeleteYes, I agree here on too long an advantage (even though he was clearly explaining to the captain that’s what he was doing). We have seen very poor use of the advantage signal in this tournament.
DeleteOn the cards, I disagree. Keeping his cards in his pocket is what we have seen consistently during the tournament. No reason to expect it to stop now.
Higher level of foul.
ReplyDeleteIm happy to see it.
Lets see next minutes
Excellent PK award from Tello called live and good "no foul" in the build up
ReplyDeleteYep, great positioning and run to be able to call it. Great no foul in the build up, VAR would have been in the spot light after the EGY-ARG game but no foul.
DeleteClear pen. No foul in the build up
ReplyDeleteMbqpepe dive before the tackle
ReplyDeleteStop to be ridiculous.
Deleteclear trip
DeleteIt’s hard to argue a dive when the slide tackle clearly takes out supporting leg. A previous Mbappe penalty call might have been called as “attacker initiating contact” but not this one.
DeleteAttacker initiated contact, no penalty. Different rules for Mbappé!
ReplyDeleteAdnane behave yourself!!!
ReplyDeleteToi refereeing drop Tello with no foul on Hakimi and clear penalty as well after with very dynamic movement. Very good !
ReplyDeleteMbappe goes down before the contact
ReplyDeleteAre you blind ?
DeleteEveryone does when you look at super slow motion. No penalty is actually a 100 % penalty. Byt this is an expected penalty.
DeleteFinally a referee who is able to make in field Penalty decisions and does not need VAR
ReplyDeleteThat's a penalty in any game, at any time
ReplyDeleteFinally a referee who is able to make On field penalty decisions and does not need VAR
ReplyDeleteBut what an akward waiting time before the Penalty kick
DeleteIn fairness, it was rather obvious. I think all would give that one live
DeletePerfect positioning and correct decision. Unfortunately VAR let him down big time with that LONG check.
DeleteDefinitely @MiCo no reason the check should have been happening for so long
DeleteHonestly its a clear clear penalty
ReplyDeleteVerry long check
ReplyDeleteWhy did that take so long
ReplyDeleteVAR check for a potential foul in APP
DeleteIt tooks 10 seconds to see no foul here. Catastrophic from VAR.
DeleteYes @crn.pie but for me, one check should have been able to see it was a non-foul.
DeleteOnly thing here I can see, is if they had to identify when the APP started, then watched the 1-2mins to the incident. But it wasn’t that long? Wasn’t it?
What was that delay about? Very confusing.
ReplyDeleteVisibly bothered by that long check, that's very poor from the ref team
ReplyDelete50/50 PK imo correct good start by the Argentina ref
ReplyDeleteWe all wished Var to be more Brave and interfer!! anyway it was missed.
ReplyDeleteNo VAR intervention needed, no foul.
DeleteI don’t get why you put everyone in position to kick the PK if the check is not over, delay until you hear check complete.
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth was that management of the kick-taking procedure? How can you be so slow and unnecessarily drawn out, leaving the kicker waiting for so long? Tello’s handling of the situation was absolutely disastrous, completely at odds with the quality of his initial decision!
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that was on Tello. I think he was extremely surprised how long it took the same as the players. Very weird from VAR
DeleteIts clear from replay mbapape intiated the contact
ReplyDeleteAs some bloggers said about Tagliafico's penalty, if there is contact it is a penalty.
DeleteMazraoui badly late, he even didn't protest.
DeleteA lengthy check like that undermines the authority of the referee. It was clear and obvious the referee was right. Quick check and get on with it
ReplyDeleteAdnane - no I am really sorry. He didn't. Look at the replay from behind
ReplyDeleteThe management was absolutely shocking. Clearly the kicker was put off. Completely unnecessary length of VAR check.
ReplyDeletethey were having a water break :)
DeleteThat was equally on Tello by having everyone get set for the PK, even insisting the retake those positions, all before the check was complete
DeleteVAR team did more to get inside Mbappe's head than Morocco, very poor
ReplyDeleteAgree. Unacceptable by VAR.
DeleteAlthough this time the ref made a right decision, but then for no reason at all Mbappe had to wait for almost 3 minutes. The referees are becoming more sophisticated how to help their favourites.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love his movement/sprint in that PK desicion, to get to right position.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Model one. I notice it too.
DeleteSimply awful perfomance by VAR on entire WC 2026
ReplyDelete36' For the umpteenth time this tournament, a ball correctly placed in the corner quadrant has to be moved for no reason
ReplyDeleteAnother scandal by var waiting 3 min for a clear pen
ReplyDeleteNot every situation the referee managed not well is a scandal.
DeleteGod forbid they take a little extra time to review to ensure the game can restart properly without any controversy.
ReplyDelete3 minutes and 12 seconds to confirm what was obvious from initial viewing. It was poor. Also don't know why Tello had them get into position before VAR confirmed anyway.
DeleteAnd many people here want to blame the officials for the Mbappe
ReplyDeleteMbappe's miss PK
DeleteThat's the problem with the long delay. If he makes it, the gk complains.
Delete38‘ Clear stamp on foot, unfortunately missed. Otherwise, I lime Tello a lot so far. He is well respected so far in a rather simple game so far.
ReplyDeleteAnd then people complain this really impacted Mbappe. Smh. He's salty he missed the pen, commentators are salty he missed and tried to find some blame other than the striker simply couldn't put the ball behind the net against Bono.
ReplyDelete3 min delay at penalty and 3 min hydration break equals 5 added minutes apparently
ReplyDeleteAfter being excellent in 2022, added time management has been a real weakness in this tournament
Delete+ 1
DeleteNobody wants to see 12 minutes of stoppage time with an extra 3 minutes added on for stoppages within stoppage time. People have places to be.
Delete47’ another case of referees missing to call a corner kick and VAR not being allowed to intervene because of the one-way law.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Completely non-sense.
DeleteWas a foul, a shirt pull on Hakimi, well spotted by the referee.
DeleteThat’s not the situation I am talking about… The goalkeeper saved the ball with his hand.
DeleteMissed clear YC for this handball IMO
ReplyDeletemissed yc at 45 +4. Arm clearly stretched out stopping the ball.
ReplyDeleteI can only speak about compliments in Tello perofmrance! Full under control!
ReplyDeleteGreat first half from Tello, may it continue in the second
ReplyDeleteSo, in all his years of Argentinian football, Hello never had a player knock the whistle from his mouth? Not a good practice.
ReplyDeleteSome of the new rules work... others doesn't. I think it could be "funny" with a 0-0 = 0 points to both teams in group and league stages. That could spice up the games ;)
ReplyDeleteOther than a few instances, been impressed with Tello so far. See there are good refs outside of UEFA
ReplyDelete=Tello
ReplyDeleteApparently the VAR Check before the Penalty took so long because they checked if there was another "Covered his mouth" Situation from Morocco or not after the Foul. (according to German TV)
ReplyDeleteMorrocan player spoke to Dembele while covering his mouth. Rightly so, no sanction. But unfortunately I can see how this rule could be abused in the future.
DeleteApart from Barton, Turpin, Oliver, and the Jordanian referee, all the other referees are beyond terrible. Collina should resign after this tournament
ReplyDelete+1 .
DeleteOverall good performance by the Argentina referee and with VAR it is under question mark { what did really cause the delay} otherwise......
ReplyDeleteBad optics on the penalty. Should have clearly indicated to the players that the check was on going before requesting the players to be in position.
ReplyDeleteUnderstandable long check when you have a look at the replay. It appears Mbappe starts falling milliseconds before contact. Not clear enough to send Tello to the monitor and acceptable to give the benefit of the doubt.
Mazraoui clearly initiated the contact and you can see him hitting his leg tripping. This is one of those cases when VAR zooming in and doing things in slow motion undermines the spirit of refereeing
DeleteYes,there was mouth cover when Diop wqs talking to Dembele.
ReplyDeleteSo what now?
Dembele has to run towards Tello so that he would show RC?
Just like Mexican and Turkish players were running and complaining?
What a ridiculous rule and stupidity at it's finest.