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The German Felix Brych can no longer play at the World Cup, while another whistle-blowing troublemaker is still in the game – the arbitrations have a system.
No, the United States is not present in Russia. But they were the winners before the kickoff – FIFA entrusted them with the World Cup in 2026. But gradually more and more America becomes visible on the turf of the World Cup. There, Mark Geiger is at work, the referee of New Jersey has caused much controversy in each of his missions.
Tuesday, Geiger, who whistles in the US MLS Operetta League, slipped out of the second round England – Colombia match; he hailed the legitimate criticism. There was also a riot around the playmaker very tense after his first World Cup match. FIFA has given the Americans, bar of any political empathy, the game Portugal-Morocco. The United States had just spent months and with Donald Trump's Twitter storm a tough 2026 World Cup campaign against Morocco. After the match, a player complained to Morocco, Geiger asked during the break for Cristiano Ronaldo's jersey. What Geiger and Fifa have denied (the latter would not have heard of it in case of doubt).
One mistake and many question marks
Then the appearance of Geiger in Germany-South Korea (0: 2). The failure of the World Champion to supplant any other topic was his chance. For Geiger did not recognize South Korea's first goal – although it was held at an unobstructed view just meters from Toni Kroos, who led the ball to striker Kim. The video assistant had to clarify the question. But what would not have been? And the DFB team would have met again against Greek Koreans?
Geiger also worked as a video assistant, in the Denmark-Australia game, he rated a Poulsen handball match unfairly as a punishment. The man has caused enough problems – but how will Fifa deal with his only American in Russia? Does it set the standard for Felix Brych after his retirement in Serbia-Switzerland and led to the return of the world referee in 2017?
The Brych case threatens to expose the line that the World Federation has at the World Cup tournament continues: It's a policy. For all those who send Brych, you have to chase the video assistant – whose original job was to correct vision defects like the one that had undermined Brych. Geiger's mistake was comparatively more serious – but he saved the video assistant. Brych leaves, Geiger stays and can intervene again from the semi-finals: the man from America to Moscow
What is technically incomprehensible makes the sports policy sensible. When the referees of the countries where the football activities are modest are supposed to whistle for the World cup, that is to say in the whole world, it is too often political. So sometimes the strategies become recognizable; recalls scandalous classic games such as South Korea's wins in the sixteenth and quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup in their own country; or the opening match of 2014 in Brazil, when the referee led the hosts to bizarre misdeeds for a 3-1 win against Croatia. Those who are not looking for the best, but for everything, also accept what happened before this World Cup: four referees already named for corruption have been removed.
The selection process, in addition to the often avoidable failures in the Evaluation video, shows how delicate the arbitration is. What suits only Geiger, it's not a blank slate. After dramatic mistakes at the 2015 Gold Cup, he was suspended for six months. His whistles had leveled Mexico in the final against Panama.
But Fifa is not worried about the appointment of its referee before the quarter-finals. Geiger's call for the Morocco match was not an isolated case: after the knockout of the preliminary round. The Senegalese against Japan were in the second round a Senegalese in the match Belgium-Japan (3: 2). Nestor Pitana, an Argentine, was eliminated in the quarterfinals against France, who has just defeated Argentina.
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