By DAN KARELL
Before the U.S. Men’s National Team tries to make it into the quarterfinals of the World Cup, history will be made by an American referee.
Following two positive performances as the main official at the World Cup so far, FIFA has assigned Mark Geiger to be the man in the middle for the Round of 16 match on Monday between France and Nigeria. The decision makes Geiger the first American referee to officiate past the group stages of the World Cup.
Geiger has officiated Colombia’s 3-0 victory over Greece and Chile’s 2-0 victory over Spain. The New Jersey native showed three yellow cards in each match but both games flowed very well and no red cards were shown. Geiger was also the fourth official for Uruguay’s 1-0 victory over Italy.
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What do you think of this news? Glad to see American officials respected by FIFA to officiate later matches? Do you plan to tune in to see how he performs?
Share your thoughts below.
congratulations, good luck and job well done so far!
Congratulations Mr. Geiger. Another step forward for US Soccer.
ESPN should do a feature on him.
I’d watch that
Awesome for Mark! Every match I have seen him do in MLS has been pretty fair and quality. This also proves that we are making it further as a futbol nation.
This is pretty huge. Good for Mark, didn’t see the Columbia v Greece game, but he was rock solid in the Spain v Chile game. Way to represent!!
HISTORY
where’s his trophy or parade?
One of the few MLS refs that is quality.
I thought he did well in his matches. Congrats to him. More experienced officials can only help MLS grow.
+ 1. The Spain Chile match wasn’t an easy one to officiate either