World Cup 2014 Officials Determined

World Cup 2014 in Brazil this summer is almost upon us and everything seems to be falling into place in the run-up to the quarter-annual tournament.  The pre-tournament friendlies have been arranged for those players in the last-chance saloon to earn a plane ticket, the stadiums are (worryingly) almost completed and as of a recent FIFA committee meeting in Zurich, the group of officials also making the journey to South America have been chosen.

FIFA have hand-picked a group of 25 referee trios combined with eight support duos to run the World Cup in Brazil this summer and unsurprisingly, there are a few unexpected turn outs.

Mark Geiger is one of the surprise additions to the tournament, as the 39-year old American high school math teacher is the only referee from the USA to earn a call-up. The selection marks the first time in ten years that an American-born official refereed a World Cup game and should he qualify to officiate in the later rounds it would be the first ever occasion that an American officiates past the group stage round.

Brian Hall was the last to star at a World Cup, taking the whistle for the Italy Ecuador game and Hall was also a part of England’s goalless draw with Nigeria, which helped push them into the second round of the competition.

All the referees selected by FIFA will be joined by their usual assistants, which, in Geiger’s case, are Canadian Joel Fletcher and Sean Hurd.

Malian referee Koman Coulibaly missed out on selection for Brazil this summer, after controversially disallowing a Maurice Edu goal for the USA in 2010, which thrust the referee into the spotlight and he endured a period of worldwide criticism in the aftermath of the incident. Similar incidents in his career have led to the Malian being attacked by supporters, and he failed to meet the selection criteria for this year’s tournament.

FIFA’s selection process was based “on their personality and their quality in football understanding by being able to read the game and the teams’ tactical approaches towards each game.” Howard Webb’s appointment under these rulings comes as no surprise, as he got the nod over fellow Premier League referee mark Clattenburg, and Webb will be one of nine European representatives in Brazil this summer.

Webb, who has previous experience from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, said: “All referees want to officiate on the biggest stage, so it’s a great honour for myself, Darren [Cann] and Mike to return to the FIFA World Cup finals.”

He added, “Our appointment is also an endorsement of the standard of refereeing in this country. This is the best group of Select Group referees I’ve ever worked with and I’m sure we’ll see several of them at major tournaments in the future.”

FIFA will be hoping the referees avoid the limelight at this year’s tournament, after the controversial decisions of years past. In 2009, Thierry Henry infamously handled the ball before crossing to William Gallas, who bundled home to send France to South Africa in 2010 at the expense of Ireland, while Frank Lampard had a goal wrongfully ruled out in England’s round of 16 tie with Germany, that spark worldwide debate.

Brazil 2014 has the potential to be one of the more enthralling World Cups in recent memory should the officials avoid the spotlight. You can place a free bet with Ladbrokes on who you think will win the World Cup with Brazil favourites at 13-4