Under-17 World Cup, CONMEBOL (South America)

Referee Trios:

Mario Alberto Díaz de Vivar Bogado
Milcíades Saldívar Franco - Roberto Casiano Cañete Luraghi
(All PAR)

Guillermo Enrique Guerrero Alcívar
Juan Carlos Macías Franco - Ricardo Fabián Barén Córdova
(All ECU)

Diego Mirko Haro Sueldo
Víctor Armando Ráez Izaguirre  - Michael Luis Orué Medina
(All PER)

Andrés José Rojas Noguera 
Dionisio Ramón Ruiz Almanza - John Alexánder León Sánchez
(All COL)

Claudia Inés Umpiérrez Rodríguez
Luciana Elizabeth Mascaraña Ríos - Mónica Fernanda Amboya Soque
(URU / URU-ECU)

Support Referees:
Edina Alves Batista (BRA)
Ivo Nigel Méndez Chávez (BOL)

Video Assistant Referees:
Germán Raúl Delfino (ARG)
Nicolás Gallo Barragán (COL)
Piero Daniel Maza Gómez (CHI)
Bráulio da Silva Machado (BRA)

Claudia Inés Umpiérrez Rodríguez before the France - Korea Republic game.
Luciana Masacraña (far right) and Mónica Amboya (far left) flanked her.
CONMEBOL Trio handled the opening game at the last Women's WC.  

This part of our preview was written by our friend from the Árbitro Internacional blog, Carlos.
I would like to thank him on behalf of the blog and hope this can lead to more successful co-operations in the future between us at Law 5 and the Árbitro Internacional team!

Referees:

We can start with Mario Alberto Díaz de Vivar Bogado from Paraguay. This will be his second FIFA tournament since he was invited to an Under-20 World Cup as reserve referee. Díaz de Vivar has some big matches inside CONMEBOL and was the Paraguayan referee at the last Copa América after Enrique Cáceres retirement. Their styles are quite similar: not much talking but a very precise foul detection. He is not the usual manager, when we talk about cards selection probably for UEFA standard he would be a bit excessive.

On his palmarés, beside the last Copa America when he took charge of the 3rd place final (he struggled in that extremely combative game), there’s a Copa Sudamericana final and a Recopa Sudamericana final. He was going to be the referee of the Copa Sudamericana final won by Chapecoense, but the tragic aeroplane crash that killed seventy-one people meant the Final was not played.

Guillermo Enrique Guerrero Alcívar makes the list despite his career inside CONMEBOL not being very extensive (indeed, it's unusual to speak about a FIFA competitions without a Brazilian or Argentinian in CONMEBOL's roster): only two Libertadores group stage matches and three Copa Sudamericana games.

After Carlos Vera left the referee panel, Ecuador had some problems to find a referee to trust in: Roddy Zambrano wasn’t the great solution he promised to be and will be leaving the FIFA panel at the end of the year.

On my personal experience it’s impossible to describe how Guerrero’s style will be when he faces real matches in the near future, but for now he seems like a promising referee to be raised incrementally, with a good physical condition and some points to improve in his foul detection.

The next step on our trip takes us to Peru. Diego Mirko Haro Sueldo will be attending his third FIFA tournament after being 4th official in Rio 2016 Olympic Games and taking charge of two matches in the Under-20 World Cup of 2017.

I really believe you will find a different referee if you get the chance to see Diego Haro this time. He is now a referee who has gained a lot of experience and a lot of self confidence that helped him to improve as a referee.

This new version of Diego Haro reminds me on ex-German referee Wolfgang Stark: he comes to the field decided to whistle and punish everything he sees no matter what it is or who did it. Maybe that’s why his penalty and red card avatares are a bit high, but at the end his performances get good grades from his observers.

Since the last time you all (probably) saw him, he had one Copa Sudamericana final and one Copa América game.

Colombian Andrés José Rojas Noguera will try to break Wilmar Roldán’s hegemony on the international level. This referee is one of CONMEBOL's rising stars, having a real European style. He likes to talk with players and avoids showing cards when he can and has a great physical condition. Moreover he still needs to improve his foul detection to get to the top level.

The man from Bogotá had already some big matches inside CONMEBOL like the Uruguay-Japan game at the last Copa América and a Copa Sudamericana semifinal.

Finally, we have the most immediately remarkable referee on the list. Her presence can be called surprising but is coherent with recent policies promoting female referees: Uruguayan Claudia Inés Umpiérrez Rodríguez will be the second woman to take charge of a male FIFA competition match and will be the first one to do it with a full women trio.

Her performances at the last two FIFA Women's World Cups rewarded her with involvement in the Final: she was fourth official both times. Probably she was first name for the Final this year, but her ridiculous management in the Italy - Netherlands Quarterfinal game made FIFA think twice, before selecting Stéphanie Frappart instead. Umpiérrez is already whistling on the highest level in her country, waiting for the chance to prove herself in CONMEBOL's male competitions.

Support Referees:

Edina Alves Batista is part of an increased female presence at this competition and from the host nation (how politically valuable!). Batista handled the United States - England Semifinal game at the recent FIFA Women's World Cup; she was a bit too permissive in her matches in France this summer. Ivo Nigel Méndez Chávez, is trying to make an impression inside CONMEBOL to take Bolivian refereeing to the highest level - something that Gery Vargas has not been able to do.

Video Assistant Referees:

Germán Raúl Delfino from Argentina, was a promising star who never showed his full potential on the field. Nicolás Gallo Barragán from Colombia, is taking his first steps on a CONMEBOL level with some “colorful” performances. Piero Daniel Maza Gómez from Chile is a referee who, like Gallo, writing his first stories inside CONMEBOL and was in the Copa América in the Video Operations Room. Bráulio da Silva Machado, is used to the system as the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A has VAR for all their matches, although he has less international experience than the other names.

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