TTFF News - Warner and Gonzales at FIFA World Club Championship this week

Warner and Gonzales at FIFA World Club Championship in Tokyo this week

 

Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer, December 6, 2007

 

Trinidadian Merere Gonzales is among several CONCACAF officials attending the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2007 this month. Gonzales will serve as a referee instructor.

 

He joins referee Marco Rodriguez and assistants Jose Luis Camargo and Pedro Rebollar.

 

  Also joining the referees is a large CONCACAF contingent of officials as part of the FIFA Delegation to the FIFA Club World 2007.

 

Leading the CONCACAF contingent are the three members of the FIFA Executive Committee: Jack Warner (Trinidad & Tobago), FIFA Vice-President & CONCACAF President; Chuck Blazer (USA), CONCACAF General Secretary; Rafael Salguero (Guatemala). Jamaica’s Horace Burrell is on the Disciplinary Committee for the tournament.

 

Gonzales has already commenced duties in Tokyo.

 

“Firstly I feel truly honoured and blessed to be appointed to this very prestigious Tournament--the FIFA Club World Cup, Japan, 2007. I am quite fortunate to be appointed for a third time as a Referee Instructor in 2005, last year and this year,” Gonzales told TTFF Media from Tokyo on Wednesday.

“My role as one of the Two Referee Instructors, the other--Mr. Abdullah, from Malaysia,  is to assist in preparing the Match officials (Referees and Assistant Referees) in the Theoretical, Technical and Practical aspects of officiating. We are very much supported by the Head of the FIFA Referees Department, Senor Jose Maria Garcia Aranda Encinar of Spain?”

 

Additionally, the referees are involved in Psychological and Physical Fitness Training sessions.

 

Gonzales hasdone presentations with two of the teams, dealing with very pertinent aspects  of the Laws of the game. Those teams were Etoile Sportive du Sahel  of Tunisia African Champions League winner and Sepahan--Iran , the Asian Champions League runner up.

 

 This tournament is being used as another medium to monitor and assess the performances of match officials, with the possibility of being appointed for the World Cup in South Africa, 2010.

The referees did commendably well in the  FIFA Fitness Test. The  trio from Mexico Senores: Marco Antonio Rodriguez Moreno-Referee and his two Referee Assistants Jose Luis Camargo and Pedro Rebollar Leon have been appointed to officiate in the opening game in Tokyo between Sepahan vs Waitakere United on Friday (tomorrow).

Also there would be an advanced experimentation by Adidas on the Line Technology at the tournament, with the use of an intelligent ball with a chip inside that would assist the Referee in determining whether the ball has crossed the goal line or not.