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US coach, Jurgen Klinsmann feels that the appointment of Djamel Haimoudi as the referee for the Round of 16 match between USA and Belgium may create a significant impact on the game.
43 year old Haimoudi has the experience of refereeing at Africa Cup of Nations in 2008 and 2012 and Italy’s third-place win over Uruguay at last year's Confederations Cup.
He has officiated as a referee for the Netherlands’ 3-2 win over Australia and Costa Rica's 0-0 draw with England in the ongoing 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
“It’s hard because there are more European referees here than from other countries,” said Klinsmann.
“FIFA abandoned the rule about having only people from a different confederation [referee a game] because so many of the top referees are from Europe. Simply put: there aren’t a lot of referees who are devoid of even the most marginal conflicts of interest,” added the German.
US Soccer president Sunil Gulati refused to say anything on the comments made by Klinsmann but as a member of the FIFA Executive Committee did provide some insights on the procedure of appointment of a referee for a match.
“It’s hard because there are more European referees here than from other countries,” he said. “FIFA abandoned the rule about having only people from a different confederation [referee a game] because so many of the top referees are from Europe. Simply put: there aren’t a lot of referees who are devoid of even the most marginal conflicts of interest”.
Belgium coach Marc Wilmots remained devoid of any reactions following the comments made by Klinsmann.
“I rarely speak to referees,” he said. “The three referees I’ve had at the start [of this tournament] I never even spoke to. The referee isn’t there for talking to, he’s there to referee.”
“I don’t play those games,” said Wilmots. “I could complain that we’ve beaten Algeria and now we have an Algerian referee. But if you’re going to talk about that sort of thing, you’re already looking for excuses ahead of time,” added Wilmots.
Klinsmann’s comments will certainly make the media keep a close watch on how Haimoudi does his work as a referee, and whether he created any kind of impact on the game or not can be decided only after the match between Belgium and USA ends.
Both the teams have been in good form and will face each other in the round of 16 match where the winner would advance to the Quarter-Finals and will face either Argentina or Switzerland.
