Néstor Pitana and Wilmar Roldán will handle Copa Libertadores final ties

South America's football governing institution CONMEBOL has revealed the referee appointments for the two legs of 2013 Copa Libertadores final played between Olimpia Asunción of Paraguay and Brazilian team Atlético Mineiro: Argentina's Néstor Pitana and Wilmar Roldán from Colombia will have the honour.

Argentina's Néstor Pitana (c) mundoxeneize

 

Néstor Pitana's appointment along with Hernán Maidana and Juan Pablo Belatti, who both are pre-selected for the next World Cup, has the potential of a game-changing signal. It might indicate a change on the prospective list of referees for 2014 FIFA World Cup. Diego Abal, who did not manage to show a convincing performance at Confederations Cup and faced some injury problems at Zürich's FIFA meeting in September 2012, could be replaced by Pitana who also provisionally attended a seminar organized by FIFA in Rio de Janeiro at the end of May 2013. A nomination for 2013 Under-17 World Cup seems probable. Germán Delfino completes the team as fourth official.

Wilmar Roldán at the 2012 Olympic Games (c) supersport.com

In the second leg of this final round, Colombian Wilmar Roldán, who is widely considered as South America's number 1 at the moment, has been designated to take charge of his second Copa Libertadores final of his career. For the 1980 born match official, it will be his 34th match in the highest club competition of South American football. He will be assisted by his prospective World Cup assistants Humberto Clavijo and Eduardo Díaz, with whom he also handled matches at the still ongoing Under-20 World Cup 2013. Imer Machado, also Colombian, will be the fourth official.

17.07.2013, 02:50 CET, Asunción (PAR)

Olimpia vs Atlético Mineiro 

Referee: Néstor Pitana (ARG)

Assistant Referee 1: Hernán Maidana (ARG)

Assistant Referee 2: Juan Pablo Belatti (ARG)

Fourth Official: Germán Delfino (ARG)

24.07.2013, 02:50 CET, Belo Horizonte (BRA)

Atlético Mineiro vs Olimpia 

Referee: Wilmar Roldán (COL)
Assistant Referee 1: Humberto Clavijo (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Eduardo Díaz (COL)
Fourth Official: Imer Machado (COL)

Find more about South American football refereeing @ Árbitro Internacional.

Carlos Torres retires due to injury but takes new responsibility

Paraguayan FIFA official Carlos Torres, who is still recovering after undergoing surgery on the meniscus over a year ago, announced that the treatment takes longer than expected and, after reflecting with his family, decided to retire from active refereeing. 

Torres said that, however, he will not quit refereeing completely, but will join the Referees Department of the Paraguayan Football Association and will help with the recruiting and training of new referees.

Torres started refereeing at age 16 and remained active until last year, when he got injured. He recalled its way through the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2007 Copa America, as well as his first appearance in a first division match, Caaguazu – Colombia, in December 1990. On the international list since 1998, Carlos Torres enjoyed his career, but regrets that he was not able to referee at a World Cup, although he was pre-selected by FIFA on the initial list for South Africa 2010 and also for Brazil 2014. 

When asked about the current difficult time for the Paraguayan referees, Torres mentioned a big gap in the training of new referees. “Carlos Amarilla is the only referee from the old guard and the young referees need much work. Instead of giving four or five years to a referee to develop, we want him to be perfect in one or maximum two years, which is not possible”. Torres made the comparison with Italian football, where the referees go through a process of 20 years from the starting moment until they get to referee in the first division. On the other hand, Carlos Torres is against the suspension of the referees. He said that suspending a referee for six months for a technical error does not make sense, because that referee will not improve their performance, but the opposite. "Let's make an analogy with a player who misses a penalty, if you do not say anything and let it out for six months, it does not mean he is going to come back and convert the penalty," he said. Torres suggested that technical errors, such as the appreciation of a play, must be analyzed and, if it was a mistake, the referee will not referee next week, but he should not be suspended for six months.

Juan Angel Napout, president of the Paraguayan Football Association, confirmed that Torres will join the team led by Ubaldo Aquino. "When Torres was injured and had surgery, we talked to him about the possibility to work in the referees department, his priority was to recover. Unfortunately, the recovery did not work well for him and came to the conclusion that it will be very difficult to return as a referee, so we talked again with him, as Ubaldo Aquino did as well. Our referees will benefit from his experience. All former international referees who retired are now working in the development of referees in South America, as occurs with Oscar Ruiz and others", said Napout.
Visibly moved, Torres announced that his farewell match will be this weekend, when he will act as a fourth official in Paraguay's first division.

source: ABC Paraguay via Refereeing World

Osses and Roldán in charge of Libertadores finals

The South American confederation's (CONMEBOL) referee committee has announced this year's match officials who will take control over the finals between Boca Juniors and Corinthians SP in Copa Santander Libertadores, the South American Champions League. 

Enrique Osses (c) Árbitro Internacional

Enrique Osses of Chile will take charge of the first leg of the Argentine-Brazilian final that will be played at La Bombonera, Buenos Aires. The 38 year-old referee, who is also on FIFA's prospective list of referees for 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, will be supported by his regular assistant referees Francisco Mondria (39) and Carlos Alexis Astroza (35), while Patricio Polic (40) will function as fourth official at the benches. Probably joining the top3 of South American referees at the moment, Osses has already overseen eight Copa Libertadores clashes in this season, including one involvement each of both teams: Corinthians SP defeated the Paraguayans of Club Nacional in March (2-0) and Boca Juniors managed to achieve a very late and important draw at Fluminense Rio de Janeiro in the quarterfinal's second leg (1-1). In addition, he "only" exhibits a card average of 4,3 yellow cards and 0,25 sending-offs per match, which is quite low in the competition.

It will be the Chilene's 31st match as a referee in the most important South American club competition, played at 27 June.

Roldán and Clavijo (c) futbolred

Only one week later, the return match will be held at Sao Paulo's Pacaembú Stadium. Colombian official Wilmar Roldán has been appointed to blow the real final whistle in this match. It will be his first international final in a club competition after last year's semifinal. Assisted by Abraham González (41) and Humberto Clavijo (38) as assistant referees and José Buitrago (41) as the fourth official, 32 year-old Roldán is considered as the best Colombian referee ever along with Oscar Ruíz. His total number of Copa Libertadores appointments in this season is 10, so that he equals the respective record established by three officials in 2006. It will be his 25th inset in a Copa Libertadores match after only four years of international refereeing. His appointment follows kind of rule of thumb, as it has frequently been the case that a referee, who had been in charge of a semifinal's first leg, will referee the final's second leg. And this rule has again proven to be right. Roldán refereed the semifinal tie between Boca Juniors and Universidad de Chile in Buenos Aires (2-0). Moreover, he also refereed the Argentine side in the round of 16, when they had beaten the Chilenes of Unión Española by 3-2. His only involvement in a match of Corinthians SP was in this season as well, when they achieved a draw in a match against Deportivo Táchira of Venezuela. Roldán issued averagely five yellows in his matches along with a total amount of four sending-offs in nine matches. He will be also active at 2012 FIFA Olympic Games London, which implies his appearance on 2014 World Cup's short list, too.

Both appointments underline the widely open future of these referees and the leading role they possess at the moment in South America.

Overview:

First leg:

27 June 2012, La Bombonera, Buenos Aires

Boca Juniors - Corinthians SP

Referee: Enrique Osses (CHI)

Assistant Referees: Francisco Mondria (CHI), Carlos Alexis Astroza (CHI)

Fourth Official: Patricio Polic (CHI)

Second leg:

04 July 2012, Pacaembú, Sao Paulo

Corinthians SP - Boca Juniors

Referee: Wilmar Roldán (COL)

Assistant Referees: Abraham González (COL), Humberto Clavijo (COL)

Fourth Official: José Buitrago (COL)

Altemir Hausmann's "spray-technique"

Despite of the fact that a great Brazilian assistant referee, Altemir Hausmann, had his last Copa Libertadores game yesterday, his usage of the spray bottle inset in the South American club competition did not merely arouse unnecessary attention, but made my day as well. At least a honourable trial to accelerate the match in the last minutes of play. Glorious ;)