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HE’S feeling on prime of the world and Poland referee Szymon Marciniak is worked up about getting the chance of officiating within the FIFA World Cup closing between Argentina and France at Lusail Iconic Stadium.
Marciniak is holding his head excessive as he would be the first Polish to officiate a World Cup closing, fulfilling a dream for the Pole who was pressured to retire a yr in the past as a consequence of a coronary heart situation.
The 41-year-old, who grew to become a FIFA referee in 2011, was set to officiate in final yr’s European Championship earlier than being recognized with Tachycardia.
“I had a really troublesome time for the final year-and-a-half. I had Tachycardia – it’s a coronary heart sickness. To start with, it was very troublesome for me and I needed to cease refereeing,” Marciniak instructed the media.
EXPERIENCED REFEREE
“I missed the UEFA European Championship, it was a horrible feeling. Now, life offers again to me and I can’t even cease smiling as a result of it’s an incredible feeling,” Marciniak added.
On the near-90,000-capacity Lusail Stadium, reigning champions France face Lionel Messi’s high-flying Argentina. Marciniak has already refereed video games between the 2 groups in Qatar.
He took cost in France’s 2-1 group stage win over Denmark the place Kylian Mbappe scored twice earlier than watching Messi lead Argentina to a 2-1 win over Australia within the final 16.
Marciniak will not be the one Polish official who will probably be on the pitch, nevertheless. He will probably be assisted by compatriots Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz — all of whom labored collectively on the 2018 World Cup in Russia as properly.
THUMBS-UP
Poland’s Tomasz Kwiatkowski will probably be in his ear because the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) whereas American Ismail Elfath — a two-times Main League Soccer Referee of the 12 months — would be the fourth official.
FIFA bosses who gave the thumbs-up for Marciniak say he evidently did sufficient to impress when he oversaw the group stage match between France and Denmark, in addition to the last-16 recreation between Argentina and Australia.
He gave out 5 yellow playing cards, no crimson playing cards and no penalties in whole throughout the 2 video games.
CALM AND STRICT REF
“I’ve seen him a couple of instances and I need to say that he’s a relaxed and strict referee who doesn’t get carried away by the big-name gamers,” mentioned award-winning Singapore coach Jita Singh, who’s in Doha for the event.
“There have been a lot of refereeing speaking factors in Qatar. However FIFA made a proper alternative however in an intensely-close closing, you simply acquired to maintain fingers crossed.”
I want Marciniak the easiest and I need to go on file to say that as much as this stage within the event, he has managed to get by his video games with out sparking any main controversy.
Even for my part, it seems to be a clever referee appointment from FIFA.
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports activities journalist who can also be a certified worldwide coach and worldwide referee teacher
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