International

places five Argentine referees for the France – Morocco quarterfinals

Ariel Hernández

If we didn’t have enough controversy in this World Cup, with the controversial decisions of FIFA in recent days, a new one arrives. The quarterfinal match between France and Morocco It already has referees and there will be five Argentines who will direct that match. Yes, five referees from the rival country of this scary France that once again threatens Lionel Scaloni’s team. Facundo Tello will be the main refereeassisted by Belatti and Chade on the wings, with Darío Herrera as fourth referee and Cristian Navarro as reserve assistant.

When the designation was known, controversy arose. The same one that existed when FIFA chose the Frenchman François Letexier for the Argentina-Egypt match. On this occasion, the Argentine referee will whistle for France and Morocco in the quarterfinals. It will be the second time that he referees a match of the Atlas Lions, since he already whistled for them three and a half years ago in the same round, against Portugal in Qatar 2022.

On that occasion, Morocco beat Portugal and reached the semifinals for the first time in its history at a World Cup. Now, they want to return to that round. After eliminating the Netherlands in the round of 32 and Canada in the round of 16 on penalties, they meet one of the big favorites to win the title: the France of Mbappé, Olise and Dembélé. Bigger words.

At 44 years old, Facundo Tello He has extensive experience in international competitions. At the club level, he has refereed a total of 38 Copa Libertadores matches, with another 14 in the Copa Sudamericana, two in the Recopa Sudamericana and the same number in the Club World Cup. In national team football, he has 11 matches under his belt in CONMEBOL Qualifiers, while it will be his seventh match in a World Cup, in addition to having also refereed two matches in the last Euro Cup.

He is, therefore, one of the referees best considered by FIFA and, as he belongs to a different confederation than the two teams that play, he meets the requirements to referee it. Hence it has been appointed by the Referees Commission headed by Pierluigi Collina. However, his appointment for the France match, the main rival in this World Cup in Argentina, has not been without controversy.

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