Swiss referee Massimo Busacca and England’s Howard Webb are among leading officials chosen for the Confederations Cup — and both have come through big cup finals in May with flying colours.
Busacca was recently voted the world’s fourth best referee and Webb number eight in a poll undertaken by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. The poll of journalists and experts from 83 countries had Italian Roberto Rosetti in first place ahead of the now retired Lubos Michel (Slovakia) and Frank de Bleeckere (Belgium).
Busacca showed just why he is so highly regarded with an accomplished performance in charge of the Champions League final in Rome between Barcelona and Manchester United. Britain’s Daily Mirror said there had been some criticism of Uefa awarding big matches to refs from “small” countries after controversy surrounding the Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona, in which Norway’s Tom Henning Ovrebo was the target of Chelsea’s ire. But Busacca put paid to that argument.
“Did anyone notice the performance of Massima Busacca on Wednesday? I didn’t either. Because he was that good,” a commentary said.
Busacca was also in charge of three matches at the 2006 World Cup and three at Euro 2008 including the semifinal between Germany and Turkey. He and Webb now have further opportunities to raise their profiles at the June 14-28 Confederations Cup, considered a dress rehearsal for the World Cup in South Africa next year.
Former policeman Webb has officiated at 10 Champions League games and took charge of two matches at last summer’s Euro 2008. Fresh from officiating the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Everton, he is seen as one of Europe’s best officials. He also officiated the the Uefa Cup semifinal first leg this season between Werder Bremen and SV Hamburg, and featured at Euro 2008 where he controversially awarded co-hosts Austria a last-minute penalty against Poland.
The third European official among the 10 referees for the tournament is Sweden’s Martin Hansson who has experience of UEFA Cup and Champions League matches.
This season he controversially awarded a stoppage-time penalty to Liverpool in a Champions League match against Atletico Madrid. The match finished 1-1 after Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard converted the last-minute spot kick and admitted afterwards he would have been “livid” had he been on the wrong end of a similar decision.
In all, 30 match officials including assistant referees, representing all six confederations, have been chosen for the tournament, which features world champions Italy, Brazil, Spain, Egypt, Iraq, New Zealand, USA and South Africa.
Among the refs are the experienced Uruguayan Jorge Larrionda, who has officiated at international matches since 2000. Larrionda was in charge of four matches at the 2006 World Cup including the semifinal between Portugal and France. His second match at the tournament — between Italy and the United States — was not without controversy after he sent off three players.
Italy’s Daniele De Rossi, United States’ Pablo Mastroeni and teammate Eddie Pope following a second yellow card. Also on the roster from South America is Carlos Amarilla from Paraguay who refereed three matches at the 2006 World Cup and has twice (2004 and 2007) refereed the Copa America final, both games resulting in a Brazil victory over Argentina.
Coffi Codjia of Benin, who officiated at the 2006 World Cup and was in charge of the 2008 Africa Nations Cup final between Egypt and Cameroon, is the African confederation’s representative. Meanwhile for Australian Matthew Breeze, who is also a police prosecutor, it is a Confederations Cup return after participating in the 2005 event in Germany.
Other men in the middle in South Africa will be Michael Hester (New Zealand), Carlos Batres (Guatemala) and Eddy Maillet (Seychelles) as a reserve. — dpa