FIFA named the officiating team for Thursday’s World Cup quarter-final between France and Morocco on Tuesday, and the assignment quickly drew attention because the most prominent officials were Argentine. Facundo Tello was listed as the referee for the match at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts.
That is why the search around Argentina Vs France has sharpened again now. The two countries were already linked by the most recent World Cup Final, which finished 3-3 before Argentina won on penalties, and they are back on opposite sides of the bracket with a spot in the last four at stake. For Argentine fans, a Moroccan victory in Massachusetts would help improve the chances of seeing their team go back-to-back; for French supporters, the choice of officials was enough to raise eyebrows before a ball was kicked.
The concern was not about anything Tello had done in the role. It was about optics and trust, with French supporters unhappy that the most prominent and important people on the eight-match-official crew were all Argentine. In a tournament that had been relatively controversy-free once the soccer started, the assignment stood out because it arrived in the shadow of earlier noise, including the incident involving Folarin Balogun and Donald Trump.
FIFA did not change the plan after naming the crew on Tuesday, and France and Morocco were still scheduled to meet on Thursday in a quarter-final that already carried more baggage than a normal knockout match. The match itself will decide who keeps moving toward the World Cup Final, but the officiating choice has ensured that some of the focus will stay on the people in charge before kickoff rather than only on the teams trying to win it.
