U20 WWC Chile, A View from the Referees

The Finals are Here!

2008-12-07T05:53:00.000-08:00

It is Sunday and the Finals are here. For many of the referees, it is a day of fun in the sun. For the 8 of us that have matches, there is one more game before we can celebrate. Most of us slept in this morning and had breakfast at 8:30am instead of 7:30am. After breakfast, I met with my team for pregame preparation. We are excited for the match this afternoon and are looking forward to ending the tournament on a very good note. Kick-off is at 3:30pm so we will leave the hotel at 1:15pm. I know that many of you are wishing us well. We are hoping for a very good match.

Thanks to all of you who have been following along on my journey! I hope you enjoyed the blog.

The Final Assignments

2008-12-06T16:53:00.000-08:00

So morning came quickly for some and not so quickly for others. I slept great. Perhaps that little tasting of wine took off the edge. :) We had breakfast as usual and then headed out for training. In the bus, Sonia had the long awaited news - the appointments for the finals. Sonia first congratulated the semi-final referees and then announced the teams for the finals.

She announced the 3rd/4th place match: Bennett, Walker, Rojc and Gonzalez. That is FIFA talk for myself, Natalie (England), Lada (Croatia) and Carolina (Chile). There was a round of applause. What a great feeling! I am very happy with my appointment, but also very happy with my crew.

Sonia continued with the appointment for the 1st/2nd place match: Ihringova, Caro, Nystrom and Melksham. Translation - Sasha (England), Helen (Sweden), Anna (Sweden) and Jacqui (Australia). 4 Confederations are represented in the referee crews - quite amazing.

Of course everyone applauded and then everyone started giving each other hugs. I was sitting in the back of the bus so my first hug was with Natalie who was sitting in front of me, but then Cindy (who was sitting across the aisle) came over to give me a hug. The hugs were contagious and everyone spent the next 5 minutes squeezing through the bus aisle to hug each other. This is a great group of referees and despite that some referees were disappointed that their name was not read, they were sure to congratulate the others who had been selected - a great show of comraderie.

Our training was the usual "-1" training - warm-up followed by 2 x 4 min accelerations. However, today was a bit different - our last training session. We divided into teams of 4. We gave our flags, whistles and cards to the players who have been helping us with training for the past several weeks. We now get to see what they have learned from us. We became the players and the players became the referees. It was comical to say the least, but also great fun. We had a lot of laughs and really enjoyed our last day together.

We headed back the hotel around 11am. I headed straight for a massage and then lunch. After lunch, we gathered for our final debriefing. We went over the semi-final matches including the yellow cards, teamwork and offside decisions.
Fortunately both matches went really well so the debrief was short. At 4pm, we loaded the bus and headed out for a city tour. Our LOC (local organizing committee) referee coordinator was our tour guide. We stopped at the Art Museum and the old city square, but by far the highlight was a visit to the Presidential House. The President does not live here, but does work here. We were very fortunate to have a private tour despite it being closed. At first when we arrived they told us we could not go in, but after some persuasion from our LOC coordinator, we were allowed in for a private tour - unbelievable. It was fantastic!

I am reminded all of the time how very lucky I am to have such amazing experiences. I know I will look back and be extremely grateful for my good fortune.

Concha y Toro Wine Tour

2008-12-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

Friday morning, I woke up at 7am and headed out for a short jog around Temuco. I wasn't quite sure where to go, but we were in the center of town so I was confident I could find my way back to the hotel. The temperature was cool, but nice with a bit of fog in the air. On my jog, I past the Korean team who were out ensemble for a short walk around town. I met up with the crew for breakfast at 8am and we headed out to the airport at 9am.

When we arrived at the airport, we were told that our flight was delayed due to weather. The runway at the airport is quite short for the Airbuses that fly in and out of the airport. Apparently, the day before the pilot attempted a landing, but had to pull up because he ran out of runway. So, with fog, they generally delay the flights until the visibility is better. Once the visibility cleared up, then the flight from Santiago left. So at 10:30am, we were notified that the plane had left Santiago and would arrive at 11:30am. Just after noon, we boarded the plane and headed back to Santiago. As we were boarding the plane, we realized that the entire Korean team was also joining us. Carol-Anne and I were sitting in the window and aisle seats respectively waiting for whomever would be joining us in the middle seat. Well, we found out soon enough who that would be....the Korean head coach. We kindly offered him to swap seats with Cindy which he graciously accepted. The players had a good laugh when they saw that their coach would be sandwiched between two referees. It was really great to see these young girls laugh. On the field, they often seem like soldiers - very focussed and serious so it was great to see their young girl side as well. Fortunately, the flight was uneventful and we arrived in Santiago without any problems.

After a short trip back to the hotel, we were greeted by all of our colleagues. They were boarding the bus to head to the Concha y Toro winery. Sonia gave us the option to stay at the hotel or join them at the winery. What do you think we did? It did not take any convincing; we ran up to our rooms, changed quickly into our casual clothes and jumped on the bus with everyone.

The trip to the winery was about 1 hour, but the time went very quickly as we caught up with our colleagues. After passing many rural housing areas, we finally arrived at the gated winery. You could not miss it. Concha y Toro is the largest wine exporter in Chile so this was not your run of the mill mom and pop winery. The grounds were amazing - over 350 acres of vineyards. We had a short tour of the grounds and then headed into the cellars where they ferment the wine in oak barrels.

To my surprise, the barrels were much smaller than I was expecting, but apparently they hold 300 bottles of wine. As I gazed across the rows and rows of oak barrels, I could not fathom the amount of wine in this modest cellar. The tour guide described the difference between the American and French oak barrels and how the French barrels are used for the more expensive wines. Those French always have to have one up on the Americans - ha, ha. :) We also went down to the Devil's Cellar where the famous Casillero Del Diablo wine is fermented. We had two wine tastings as part of our tour - a chardonnay and a cabernet sauvignon. Both were 14% alcohol. Our tour guide noted that 14% is quite strong for a white wine, but in fact, that is one of the trademarks of the Concha y Toro wines.

Everyone had a great time at the vineyard. We headed back to the hotel and met to receive the appointments for the final matches. Of course, everyone was anxious and excited. We waited for about 30 minutes, but apparently, Sonia was unable to get confirmation from Mr. Villar, the Chairman of the Referee Committee. After apologizing, Sonia informed us that we would have dinner tonight and receive appointments in the morning. Of course, we all took the news in stride - you learn to expect anything at these tournaments. We had a few good jokes and then headed to dinner. We'll have to wait until the morning for the BIG news.

Semi-Finals are Over, What's Next?

2008-12-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

The semi-final match is over and in an exciting final second goal, Korea DPR advances to the final. Carol-Anne led the referee team to a successful match. At 75 minutes prior to kick-off, I went to the locker rooms to check the players. Both locker rooms were very quiet and the players seemed nervous. This was a big match for both teams and the tension was quite evident. I wished the players good luck and headed back to check on the referee team. Carol-Anne, Rita and Cindy were ready to go. Of course, just like the players, the referees also experience nerves before a big match and our crew was no different; however, we try to keep things light in the locker room. After warm-ups, the teams lined up to enter the field for the anthems. This match was special as FIFA was celebrating anti-discrimmation. I was asked to carry 2 microphones out to the field and give them to each captain to recite a speech. The captains were nervous about speaking in front of the large crowd (about 12,000) and I was nervous that I would not turn on the microphones properly. Of course, I checked once, twice, three times before handing them over the captains. I was tempted to give my own little speech, but I refrained. :) Fortunately, everything went off without a hitch and before we knew it, the match was starting.

The first half was uneventful, but the teams made up for the lack of excitement and intensity in the second half. Carol-Anne did a great job of managing the players. France went up early in the second half so the match was not marked with Korean delay tactics that we have seen in many of their matches. It was nice to see both teams playing football (soccer) and not displaying gamesmanship. The Koreans had a goal disallowed by an offside decision. It was an extremely close decision. At the 4th official table, there is a tv broadcast with replay. Although I was busy managing the benches at the time, the media officer watched it on the replay and thought the decision was good. Only 4 minutes later, the Koreans tied the score. The team erupted with excitement. Both teams continued to push forward hoping to get the better of the other team, but at 90 minutes, the score was still tied at 1-1. I displayed the additional 2 minutes and dug the coin out of my pocket to get ready for possible extra time. For those who do not know, the additional time is actually the MINIMUM time to play which means that if the referee indicates 2 minutes of additional time, there can be up to 2:59. Well, at 2:20 of injury time (i.e. 92:20), Korea DPR scored the decisive goal. The Korean bench cleared and the players piled on top of the goal scorer. Of course, the French players held their heads in their hands with disappointment written all over their faces. The French coaching staff was in shock, but at the same time, trying to encourage their team to regroup. Despite playing another minute of additional time, France was unable to equalize. Korea DPR advanced to the finals and France to the 3rd/4th place match. Despite dominating play with an average of approximately 59% possession, France was unable to capitalize on their opportunities. The disappointment of the players and fans alike was evident. So close and yet so far....

After the match, we headed back to the hotel to watch the second semi-final, USA vs Germany - another match that promised to be a barn burner. Although we were unable to watch the match on the television, we were able to watch the match streamed over the Internet in the FIFA office. Both teams came to win and they did not disappoint the Chilean crowd. It was a great show of skill and teamwork by both teams, but the US put a lot of pressure on Germany and it was this pressure that ended up scoring them the winning goal. The US moved extremely well as a team both on offense and defense. It was quite a show by both teams. At the end of the match, we ate dinner and then headed off to bed.

Semi-Finals

2008-12-04T07:20:00.001-08:00

Last night, was a rough night for me. I woke up in the middle of the night with an upset stomach and rushed to the bathroom to be sick. It is no fun being sick, but particularly when you are in a hotel room. Fortunately that seemed to make things better, but 7am came very quickly as you can imagine.

Once again, we had training albeit with a much smaller group. Some of the referees were already heading home. We said our goodbyes to those who were leaving. On the training agenda today….aerobics, always a crowd favorite. Let me tell you, the referee group is not the most coordinated group so aerobics is always a good laugh. Today did not disappoint. I just wish I had my camera! After aerobics, those of us who have a game tomorrow did a brief speed workout (typical -1 match preparation).

We returned to the hotel around 11am. I went straight for a massage and then caught a little shut eye before lunch. After lunch I had a couple of hours to catch up on emails and pack my bags. At 5pm, we were once again heading off to the airport. Many of the departing referees were also going to the airport at the same time so instead of being transported in a van, we all went together in a bus. There were even some referees who were staying in Santiago that joined us for a trip to the airport. It was a great show of support from our fellow referees. After the 30 minute trip to the airport, we bid our friends farewell and headed off to Temuco.

We arrived in the hotel in Temuco at 9:30pm. After dropping our bags off in the room, we headed down to the restaurant for dinner. Once again, our choices for dinner were: fish, chicken or beef. You may think I am kidding, but I'm not. Although I think the chicken from the night before had made me sick, I chose the chicken. The meal arrived with a plain piece of chicken and white rice. This is a no frills hotel - just my style after the prior night. :)

It's Thursday morning and our team is gearing up for another big match. We are ready! We started the day with breakfast at 9am and a pregame meeting at 10am. We will be leaving the hotel at 2pm (just 2 hours away). We are hoping for the best, but preparing for everything.

Release Day

2008-12-04T07:13:00.000-08:00

Today is Tuesday and we started the day with breakfast and training. The scheduled fitness training was a speed work. After some warm-up drills, the group of 32 split in half and lined up at opposite corner flags. There were 5 cones equally spaced along the length of the field along the median line (i.e. 1 at each 18 yard box, 1 in the center circle, and the other 2 equally spaced between the 18 yard box and the center circle). We would sprint to the first cone, jog to the other corner flag and then walk to the starting point. Then we would sprint to the second cone, jog to the other corner flag and walk to the starting point. This continued for each cone. 5 cones constituted a set. We completed 3 sets in total. After the speed workout, we divided into 5 teams and played some relay games. Our team ended up winning all of the preliminary relays so for the final relay, we started last. The final relay was a race around the track with obstacles (hurdles) that we had to go over and under. Each team had 6 people who had to remain together holding hands as we moved around the track. Everyone really enjoyed this last training day together as a whole team.

We headed back to the hotel for lunch and then a group debriefing for the quarterfinal matches. Today we were joined by Angel Maria Villar Llona, the Chairman of the Referee Committee. He greeted us and then we continued with our debriefing. Of course the debriefing sessions always bring a bit of apprehension from the referee teams. Fortunately, the debriefing went well for our team. We were given accolades for a well managed match. Surprisingly, there was only 1 tight offside decision in all of the quarterfinal matches so much of the feedback revolved around the referees and primarily misconduct. There were a few incidents in the Japan vs Korea match that were highlighted for instructional purposes, but overall the feedback was good for most of the referees. After the debriefing, they announced the list of referees who would be staying for the remainder of the tournament. To my delight, my name was announced. I was also very happy for my fellow referees who were asked to stay including: Carol-Anne (Canada), Bibi (Germany), Sasha (England), Sachiko (Japan), Jacqui (Australia) and Carolina (Chile). The assistant referees included: Rita (Mexico), Cindy (Trinidad and Tobago), Nykasie (Guyana), Milena (Costa Rica), Helen and Anna (Sweden), Lada (Croatia), Natalie (England) and Airlie and Allyson (Australia). They also announced the appointments for the semi-finals. Carol-Anne will be refereeing the Korea DPR vs France match along with Rita, Cindy and I. Sachiko will be refereeing the US vs Germany match along with Airlie, Allyson and Jacqui. So we head back to Temuco tomorrow. Carol-Anne had just returned from Temuco earlier today, but of course she is thrilled to be assigned to a semi-final.

Tonight is the final day together as a big group so we had a dinner planned at a restaurant. This is one of the few occasions when we get to wear our own casual clothes which is always a treat for the referees.

We were entertained by some traditional Chilean dancers. After each dance, the dancers grabbed some audience members and brought them to the dance floor to teach them the dance. Of course this always brought cheers from everyone. Lada, my Croatian friend, is always a good sport so when they were looking for a participant, I guided them to Lada. She was quite embarrassed, but as always a good sport. When she returned to the table, she made sure to let me know that I would be next. So everytime they came looking for participants, I made sure to have someone else lined up to volunteer.

It was a late night. We returned to the hotel after midnight.

Back To Santiago

2008-12-04T07:04:00.000-08:00

When we arrived at the stadium, we were greeted by our fellow referees who came by bus earlier. They congratulated us on a good match. At halftime, Bibi (German) sat next to me and recounted a story from the night before. Apparently, my match had been televised and all of the referees were gathered together to watch the match. At one point, Karine (France) started to laugh. Bibi asked her why she was laughing and she told her that the commentators had made a comment to the effect of "this referee, Jennifer Bennett, is much smarter than the tall German referee from the previous match". In my prior posts, you can see that Bibi is also blond, but much taller than I am. She is a policewomen by trade and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. In Bibi's match, there had been a situation where there was a foul at midfield, but just as Bibi blew the whistle, the ball went to a wide open attacking player. As the camera zoomed in on Bibi, you could see the attacking players pleading for an advantage call and reading Bibi's lips you could see that she was saying "I know, I'm so sorry". It has happened to all of us at one point. At the moment you realize that you should have applied advantage, you just wish you could suck the wind back into the whistle, but unfortunately, once you blow the whistle, play must stop. So apparently the commentator was making a reference to this particularly incident. Bibi was a good sport about it. With a big smile on her face, she told me that at this moment, she hates me, but for sure, I would be the one buying a round for everyone. :)

The Japan vs Korea DPR match did not disappoint the crowd. As expected, both teams played with great intensity and skill. Japan displayed finesse, but in the end the Koreans delivered another winning performance. Unfortunately, the match was marred with several delay tactics employed by the Koreans which were not well received by the crowd. The fans would whistle with disapproval at every attempt to delay. There were players rolling around on the ground with cramps miraculously subsiding after a short trip on the stretcher to the touchline. The trainer who came on to access the injured players attemped to parade around the pitch giving instructions to the players to the dismay of the referees. At the end of the match, the fans did not applaud the winning team. It was the losing team who had won their approval today. The Japanese lined up facing each section of the stadium and bowed to the thunderous applaud of the fans. It was certainly an emotional moment for the players and for the fans alike.

After the match, we headed back to the hotel. We were hoping to watch the second quarterfinal being played in Temuco, but unfortunately, the Irish pub could not find the match on satellite. So we ended up having an early dinner and watched part of the match being streamed on the Internet. The second quarterfinal match pitted Brazil against Germany. Germany took a 3-1 lead, but Brazil came back making for a thrilling finish. All of the referees in the dining room were gathering around one small laptop watching the final 10 minutes.

With Christmas just around the corner, the hotel staff has decorated the lobby with a Christmas tree. I am joined by Helen (Sweden), Bibi (Germany), Marina (Germany) and Anna (Sweden).

After the match had ended and dinner was finished, a small group of us headed over to the corner cafe for some fellowship. Tomorrow we will find out which referees will be staying for the finals and which will be heading home so we wanted to make the most of our remaining time together.

Quarterfinal - Nigeria vs France

2008-12-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

We had a safe journey to Coquimbo. As we were flying, I noted how clear the skies were and how close the mountains were. I had to take some pictures from the airplane window to show you how very close we were flying to the mountain tops. Perhaps it was better when I could not see the mountains. :) However, I have to admit, it was a beautiful view from above.

We arrived at the Enjoy Hotel around 6pm and were greeted by the Referee Committee Member, Harry (from Vanuatu). Unfortunately, they had a 5.0 earthquake the day before so the electronic room cards and telephones were not working. Not to worry, the cleaning staff were there to let us into our rooms whenever we needed their help. The weather was great - sunny and about 75F. Our team went for a short walk along the ocean where we were greeted by many of the local children. We took many photos with the children. We had dinner together at 8pm and headed off to bed shortly after 10pm.

We met for breakfast at 9:30am with our Match Commissioner, Charmaine Hooper. For those who do now know Charmaine, she was one of Canada's star players for several years and was a key player in the WUSA whom I refereed on several occasions. I enjoyed the chat. After breakfast, we all went back to our rooms to relax before the match and get mentally prepared for an exciting afternoon. We left the hotel at 2pm. When we arrived at the stadium, we were greeted by many of the volunteers as well as FIFA staff. As always, we inspected the field and took in the great atmosphere. There was some music playing in the stadium, but as it was 90 minutes before kick-off, the stadium was still empty. We snapped a few photos of the stadium and headed into the lockerroom.

About 45 minutes prior to kick-off, we joined the teams for a warm-up. Both teams looked a bit nervous, but excited. We are in the elimination round of the tournament so I think both teams were feeling the pressure of the match. After warm-ups, we headed back to the changing room for last minute preparations. We lined up in the tunnel waiting for the teams to arrive. France arrived first without much fanfare. We could hear the sound of singing thundering through the tunnel. Here come the Nigerians. They walked hand-in-hand through the hall to the tunnel and were singing a religious song. I could not make out the words, but the resonating voices were unbelievable giving me goosebumps. These are the moments when I remember how very fortunate I am to be apart of this wonderful experience. We checked the players once more and then headed out to the field as the FIFA anthem was playing. There were about 12,000 people in the stadium and as the teams emerged from the tunnel below field level, the fans did not disappoint.

After the formalities of the anthems, team photos and coin toss, the match was underway. France went up early with a goal in the 3rd minute. Unfortunately, the Nigerian goalkeeper was injured when her teammate kicked her in the clavicle. Although they treated her on the field and she continued to play, she was substituted in the 13th minute and was taken to the hospital. However, the Nigerians caught the French team on their heels and quickly tallied 2 goals in the first half. Nigeria had too much speed for France in the first half and looked like they were going to walk away with the win. However, after half-time, it was a very different French team that came out to play. They were much better organized and really controlled play in the second half. As we approached the 88th minute, the score was tied 2-2. I was preparing myself for the extra time when France scored a fantastic goal. The stadium erupted. The Nigerian players could not believe that their dream seemed to be coming to an end. We played 3 minutes of injury time, but the Nigerians were unable to equalize. The final score was 3-2 to France. I don't know what the coach told the French team at half-time, but it certainly proved to ignite the team to a victory. Both teams and the referees met at the center circle for the final handshake - one team filled with elation and the other with disappointment - a dichotomy of emotion. We see it time and time again on the soccer field, but at the World Cup, it seems to be even more prevalent. One team continues to pursue their dream, while the other heads home not knowing whether they will return for another chance in the future. It is an emotional time for these young ladies and for those who have supported them every step of the way.

After we finished our paperwork, we headed back to the hotel for dinner. We did our best to translate the Spanish menus, but for me, margarita pizza was a safe bet along with a mango juice. I realize the combination does not sound particularly appetizing, but the fresh squeezed mango juice is something not to be missed. When we arrived at the hotel we were given coupons for a free play at the casino. (Did I mention that the hotel has a casino?) The coupons were only good for one play of blackjack, craps or poker. Many of the girls had never been to a casino nor did they know how to play the games, so they donated their coupons to me. However, we only had 4 coupons which I knew would not last very long so I ran up to my room to get some "extra" money and headed to the casino with Cindy and Nykasie. We watched the blackjack table for a few rounds while they finished the shoe. The minimum bet was 5,000 pesos (or approximately $8). As we watched the other players, I was teaching the ladies how to play. Although it has been a while since I have played blackjack, I remembered most of the "rules" that my dad had taught me several years ago. It's always good to look like you know what you are doing. The three of us in our Adidas polos and track suit pants drew quite a bit of attention at the table as we watched. After some cajoling, I finally sat down between two gentlemen and laid down my first bet. The dealer was very hot. Everyone was losing round after round. However, we all were able to have a good laugh about it. As the dealers changed, we thought there might be a change in the tide, but no such luck. Eduardo, the next dealer, was no kinder. By this time, the pit boss had joined the entertainment as we were all having a good laugh. As I neared the end, I had two 5,000 chips left. I told Eduardo that I would have to leave after my last two chips were gone so I suggested he might let me win a hand or two. Unfortunately, my charm (or lack there of) did not work too well. I managed to win one more hand, but then was swept off the table in the next two. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. We bid everyone goodnight and headed up to our rooms.

We did not have to leave the hotel until 10:30am, so we had a leisurely morning meeting for breakfast at 9:30am. After a match, I always seem to have trouble sleeping and this night was no different. Despite the luxurious beds, I was only able to manage about 5 hours of shut eye. I suppose I had a bit of adrenalin running through my system from the match. Ok, the gambling probably did not help matters either. :) In any case, we headed off the airport and were greeted by the Nigerian team who were also on our flight. I was trying to read their demeanour to know whether or not I should approach them, but after 15 minutes, I decided to congratulate their captain and their coaches on a terrific tournament. They were extremely gracious. They were on their way home. Disappointed, of course, but not defeated!

We boarded our plane, but were delayed due to mechanical troubles. We waited on the plane for what seemed like an eternity, but finally were on our way back to Santiago. We arrived at 2:50pm, grabbed a quick bit to eat and headed to the stadium to watch another quarterfinal - Japan vs Korea DPR.

Quarterfinals Are Here

2008-11-29T07:41:00.001-08:00

It's Saturday and the quarterfinals will start tomorrow. We received our appointments last night. We have 2 CONCACAF crews refereeing the quarterfinals. I will be refereeing the Nigeria vs France quarterfinal in Coquimbo along with Cindy (TnT), Nikasie (Guyana) and Carolina (Chile). Carol-Anne will be refereeing the Brazil vs Germany quarterfinal in Temuco along with Rita (Mex), Milena (CRC) and Erika (CRC). The other two quarterfinals are USA vs England and Japan vs Korea DPR. No easy matches!

We did not have training this morning, but I woke up a bit early and had an easy jog on the treadmill to loosen up my legs. I had breakfast at 8:30am and then we had our group debriefing at 10:30am.

The debriefing once again lasted 2 hours. We had some very interesting video clips. We went through most of the yellow cards. In the last round of matches we had two situations where we had a second yellow card (resulting in 2 send-offs). We also had one straight red card incident. We reviewed many offside decisions - both good and bad. Fortunately for the referees none were game deciding. We had a situation where there was a throwin just inside the 18' which ended up being headed to a player at the penalty spot who volleyed the ball toward goal. The ball hit the crossbar, the ground and was then collected by the goalkeeper. Unfortunately for the assistant referee, when the shot was taken, she was in line with the second last defender about 8 yards off the goal line. So she was not able to be at the goal line when the ball hit the cross bar. After watching the replay, the ball ended up bouncing on the ground inside the goal before being collected by the GK. This was a very difficult situation for the assistant and in this case the referees were a bit unlucky. Fortunately, this was not a match deciding incident as the team ended up winning the match (I guess that qualifies as good luck for the referees).

We'll now have lunch and then we head off to the airport for the start of the quarterfinals. Our team is really excited to be appointed to the quarterfinal and we are preparing for a very good match. We also are hoping that Lady Luck will be on our side tomorrow.

Black Friday (as it is known back home)

2008-11-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

I updated the Match Day blog from Wed with a few pictures.

In honor of the American tradition of Black Friday, the referees will be shopping today as well. We started the day with training. We played some games with balloons which turned out to be a bit dangerous. Everyone had to keep their balloon in the air while also trying to knock other's balloons out of play. You can imagine the arms (and elbows) that were flying! It was a fun change. We then had an hour of technical training with several male players helping. The guys played mini-scrimmages with each referee and set of assistants taking 1 attacking play and then rotating to the next set of referees. After about 45 minutes, we reviewed and practiced the procedures for the knockout stage of the tournament should matches end in a draw.

Below are pictures of the view from the training field as well as some flowers that are everywhere in the training complex.

We returned to the hotel for lunch and a brief meeting. Now we are heading out to go shopping!

Recovery Day...Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T06:58:00.001-08:00

The first thing I did this morning was check on the news from India. Apparently, there were some people released from at least one of the hotels and it appeared that they had better control of the situation. There had been about 100 people killed and many others injured.

Today is our recovery day. On recovery days, we do not participate in the group training, but rather have a separate stretching session later in the afternoon. So I went for a run on the treadmill and then had breakfast.

I had a few hours to catch up with work and get a massage. This afternoon we'll have our recovery session and then dinner.

All in all, a pretty easy day.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I will not be enjoying a turkey dinner tonight, but I certainly have plenty to be thankful for!

Match Day

2008-11-27T06:55:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday morning, another match day for the CONCACAF crew of Carol-Anne, Rita, Milena and myself. I slept great last night. We had breakfast at 8:30am and then our pregame meeting at 9am. Our pregame meeting was given in both English and Spanish which was good practice for me. After our meeting, I did a bit of work and went for a massage before lunch.

We left the hotel at 1pm to head over to the stadium. Normally we plan to arrive at the stadium 90 minutes before kick-off, but since it was a weekday, we left a bit early in case there was traffic. We listened to an 80s mix on the way over to the match which we all joined in on the choruses of those beloved songs!

We arrived at the stadium at 1:30pm - quite early. So we enjoyed a nice stroll on the pitch and some relaxation time prior to the match in the locker room. We had ample time to get all of our gear ready including the electronic communication system. For many of the women, the ear phone is too big for their ears so many have to go to lengths to get the tape just right to hold the ear piece in place. When we arrived, the pitch was very hot. It is an artificial surface and you could smell the rubber burning. Fortunately, by kickoff time, the sun had set enough that the majority of the field was under shade.

The match was very exciting. Argentina had 1 point and France had 3. France needed at least a draw and Argentina needed a win. We had watched many clips from the earlier match between the US and Argentina so we were prepared for a physical game and perhaps some misconduct. The first half went well with minimal discipline required and with a goal from Argentina. In the second half, things got a bit more interesting. France came back with an equalizer and later with the go-ahead goal. The crew had excellent team work and the communication systems came in very handy. There was one situation in particular where the Argentinian player reached out her hand and touched the ball to stop attacking play right in front of the French bench. Carol-Anne did not have a good view of it and the player had her back to Rita. I used the communication system to notify Carol-Anne that the ball was handled by #6 and she was able handle the situation seamlessly. The French coach was just about to get off his bench to protest the handling when Carol-Anne whistled. The coach and I made eye contact and he just smiled and raised his hand to apologize for jumping the gun. These situations do not happen often, but when they do (as in this case), the teamwork and electronic communication system worked great. Ironically, we have been having difficulty with the communication systems all tournament, but thankfully when we needed them, they worked great. There were a few other occasions where we were able to use the communication system to confirm cautions and even to confirm that a second caution had been given. Carol-Anne did a great job controlling the match and as a team we had a very good game.

After our match, we watched the second match England vs New Zealand. The match started off fairly slow, but it was a barn burner in the end. The match had only 9 fouls in the first half. Both teams play very similar styles and it was great to see the physical, yet fair play of both teams. New Zealand went up 1-0 in the second half and were elated. New Zealand needed a win to go through to the quarterfinals and England needed a draw. Although England started to penetrate late in the second half, New Zealand was able to hold their ground. England could not buy a goal despite several opportunities. The crowd was getting very animated. Late in the second half, a NZ player received a second caution and was sent off. New Zealand held their ground despite being a man down. There was a collision between the England attacking player and the NZ goalkeeper and of course the English fans were looking for a PK, but it wasn't given. 5 minutes of injury time was shown at the end of the second half and England was desperate to get a goal. England had several opportunities in the first few minutes of injury time, but it wasn't until the 3rd minute when they finally were able to put the ball in the back of the net. The bench went crazy and the entire bench and virtually all of the players piled on top of the play who scored the winning goal. The NZ players were devastated. It was an amazing finish to the match and certainly kept the fans on the edge of their seats.

Below is a view from our VIP seats in the stadium with the wonderful view of the mountains in the background as the sun is setting.

When we arrived back at the hotel, we had a quick dinner and then headed off to bed. I turned the tv on and heard about the attacks in Mumbai, India. I watched CNN for about an hour as the events unfolded. What a tragedy.

We have one more round of matches tomorrow.

Last Rest Day Before Final Matches in Group Play

2008-11-25T13:48:00.000-08:00

It was the same start today as always with a slight twist...weight control. We weighed in at 7am, had breakfast and training at 8:30am. The bus was late this morning so we didn't start training until 9:30am. Today was going to be a harder training day for me as I am a 4th official for the next round of matches.

We started off with some warm-ups and then started the speed workout. The referees ran along the diagonal of the field from one penalty area to the other. We jogged the first 20m, then sprinted 20m, turned around and sprinted back 20m, turned again and sprinted 20m and then jogged the final 20m to the opposite corner. We worked in groups of 3 so 1 referee would go while the other two waited so that we had a bit of a break in between. We did 5 intervals and then had a break. We repeated the drill a second time. This time, the fitness trainer (Jean-Baptiste) joined me on each of my intervals. He mumbled something about me being fast so I think he wanted to have a race. Game on! I was able to stay up with him on the first 4 intervals, but on the final interval, I had lost my steam and ended up a few meters behind (ok, more like 5m). I didn't think it was a bad showing overall considering he didn't run the first set. Of course with his 6'5" stature and long leg span, he made it look like a jog in the park. :) We ended the training with a small game of 4 on 4. After our team went up 10-1, Jean-Baptiste came over to ask the score. After hearing the score, he joined our opponents and proceeded to score 3 goals in a row. We didn't notice that he had widened the goal. However, we managed to hold on to our lead and even scored a few more goals before we called it quits. More importantly, no one was injured in the activities. Referees can be very competitive! Meanwhile, the assistant referees were taking their "video taped" offside test. They brought in some players who were running in opposite directions (i.e. the defender running up field and the attacking player running toward goal). Both close to each other. Another player would pass the ball in a timely fashion to try and simulate one of the most difficult offside decisions. The assistants were video taped on 10 decisions. I'm sure we will see the results in the near future.

We returned to the hotel for lunch and then our second match debrief meeting. Everyone seemed a bit more relaxed this time - probably due to the day off. We started with the misconduct (i.e. yellow and red cards). There were many incidents of good cautions, a couple where the referee maybe missed a caution and a few where cautions were given that could have been avoided. We also had a couple of incidents of red cards which we discussed in detail. After misconduct, we moved onto offside decisions. For the most part, the assistants did a great job. There were a couple that were extremely close - including the decisive goal in our match, Korea DPR vs Norway. I am pleased to say that the assistant had an excellent decision! We wrapped up the meeting with a few clips to discuss game management. The debrief took just under 2 hours which was pretty good. Once again, our crew had a very good debrief with only positive highlight clips. The positive vibes that you are all sending are apparently working so please keep them coming. :)

After our debrief, those who have to travel for the next round of matches left. Our match is tomorrow afternoon at 4pm in Santiago.

Free Day - A Trip to Vina del Mar!

2008-11-25T13:29:00.000-08:00

We arrived at the hotel late Sunday night (11:30pm) after our flight from Temuco. We took a quick look at the agenda for the following day. Our crew was going to have breakfast followed by a recovery training session at 8:30am. The recovery session was once again 8 minutes each on the treadmill, stationary bike and elliptical followed by stretching and core stability exercises (i.e. sit-ups and push-ups). We returned to the hotel at 9:30am.

At 10am, all of the referees met in the lobby to depart for our "free" day. We heard rumors that we would be heading to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar (i.e. the beach). It was a 90 minute bus ride to our first stop. The views on the ride were great. We cut across the Andes mountains heading toward the coast. Most of the referees were chatty the first 45 minutes, but then it was very quiet as everyone was catching up on lost sleep.

We arrived at our first stop - an ocean view lookout. However, just before we arrived, I noticed an interesting set of buildings on the opposite side of the road. It looked like many rows and columns of large mailboxes. As we got closer, I realized that there were flowers and inscriptions on each mailbox. Then I realized what we had passed was in fact a cemetery. I have not seen anything like it. I tried to take a photo from a distance, but if we run across another cemetery like that on our trip, I will be sure to take a better photo. We took some photos of the ocean at the lookout and were loaded back onto the bus.

It was a short 20 minute ride to our next stop - Valparaiso and a ride up the incline. The incline was a very rickety old piece of machinery that is used to transport people and things up the steep hillside. There are two cars that oppose each other to power the transportation. When we reached the top, we had a wonderful view of the port and its surroundings.

Instead of talking the incline back down, we decided to walk down a nearby side street which had stairs winding down to the bottom of the hill.

Mural along the street:

We gathered into the bus and within a few minutes were at our next stop - lunch. We had lunch at a seaside restaurant. Being sea side, most of us chose to eat fish which was very good. Despite the fact that I am not a big fish eater, there has only been a few days when I have not had fish for at least one meal. One recommendation for anyone visiting Chile - definitely try the fish. As we had lunch, we were entertained by the Pelicans that apparently called the restaurant home. They were swooping down into the ocean grabbing lunch. One of the referees asked if we remembered the pelican in "Finding Nemo" and how he (or was it a she) smashed into the window. We were waiting for it to happen to us, but fortunately these pelicans were well trained! For many of the referees, the closest they ever were to a pelican prior to this adventure was in "Finding Nemo" so it was pretty entertaining to see their reaction to the pelicans.

After lunch we headed to Vina del Mar (i.e. the beach). We were graced with a beautiful sunny day. Many of the referees headed into the small town for shopping, but I joined my Swedish friends and basked in the sun. For those who may not know, the Swedes are "known" for their love of the sun. The water was very chilly, but after some persuasion by our fitness trainer, I ended up in the water - but I wasn't alone... I made sure he joined me as well. :) We spent about 90 minutes on the beach and then loaded the bus and headed back to Santiago for dinner. After all of the travel and the stress of the matches, it was great to have a day of rest and relaxation!

I have included a picture of the beach front properties below. I thought the style was very different from anything I have seen before.

We arrived at the hotel in Santiago at 8:30pm, had dinner and received our next round of assignments. I will be the 4th official for Carol-Anne (Canada), Rita (Mexico) and Milena (Costa Rica) - a CONCACAF crew! We will be refereeing the France/Argentina match in Santiago. I was relieved to hear that I would not have to travel for this next round of assignments. That means I'll have an opportunity to enjoy a few massages in our free time and catch up with my emails from work.

Temuco Match Day, Korea DPR vs Norway

2008-11-23T13:18:00.001-08:00

Today is another big day for our crew. We met for breakfast at 8:30am in the hotel restaurant. The breakfast was ok, but our Australian colleague (Jacqui, who is our 4th official) is allergic to dairy and gluten so the selection was not very good for her, but we always make due. We went over our pregame instructions at breakfast to once again make sure we are all on the same page. We discussed some of the incidents from the matches we watched together the night before so that we would know how we would handle the situation if it occurred in our match. By 10am, we were once again headed off to the stadium.

The stadium was quite close so we were there with plenty of time to walk the pitch and take in the atmosphere. We were not sure what type of crowd we would get, but we were excited all the same. The temperature was perfect - sunny and in the 70s. Our team was ready for another exciting match.

Korea DPR vs Norway...this should be a good showdown.

By the time the match started, there was approximately 13,000 fans - what a great crowd! Korea DPR came over very strong and scored two early goals in the first half. After gaining the lead, they started to waste time on restarts and were going down with many injuries. So I had a few words of caution initially. The fans were helping me as well whistling at every opportunity. In the second half the Norwegian players equalized with two goals within 10 minutes. The team was very excited and the fans were certainly appreciative. The decisive goal came in the 64th minute as Korea DPR threaded a ball through to an attacking player at the top of the 18. There was a very close offside decision so we will take a close look when we review our video, but from all accounts everyone felt it was a good "no call". So Korea DPR once again went ahead of Norway. The Norwegians did not give up the fight, but were unable to equalize. I had two cautions late in the second half for time wasting to Korea DPR which were well appreciated by the crowd.

After the match, we watched the second match, Mexico vs Brazil. Sasha (England), Karine (France), Natalie (England) and Jacqui (Australia) were refereeing. The match was entertaining and the fans were supporting both teams, but in the end Brazil dominated 5-0. It was a great atmosphere with the fans doing the Mexican wave and chanting Chilean cheers. At the end of the match, two Brazilian players ran the Chilean flag across the field thanking the supporters. It was a great sign of sportsmanship!

So now we are back at the hotel and getting ready to head to the airport. Normally we would stay another night and head back to Santiago in the morning, but we were told last night that we would be flying back tonight so that we could be back in Santiago.

In the van, heading to the airport:

We have one more round of preliminary games, but I think our crew will probably have a break. Stay tuned.

Travel to Temuco, Saturday

2008-11-23T13:17:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning - can you guess how we started the day? Breakfast at 7am and training at 8:30am. Routine, routine, routine.... Since my team would be traveling later that afternoon for a match the following day, we had a light training session. We had a warm-up followed by 3 sets of sprint drills. We sprinted 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50m with a short recovery in between. Then we had some stretching and we were on the bus by 10:30am. The day before a match (or game day -1, as they call it here) we do not participate in the technical training session. We returned to the hotel in time for a quick massage before lunch. After lunch, we packed our bags and we're headed to the airport once again at 2:30pm. This time we were headed to Temuco, a smaller town south of Santiago.

After a 90 minute flight, we arrived in Temuco. As we were landing, I noted how similar the terrain looked to our area of CA (the Peninsula) although less houses and more countryside. However, here in Temuco, the town is in the foothills of the Andes mountains. I was reminded of some research work I had done in college when I worked with a scientist who was studying the plate movement and earthquakes in the Andes mountains in Chile. Indeed, this area is also prone to earthquakes like CA.

We landed at the very small airport as we landed, the pilot abruptly applied the brakes and we came to a very quick stop. When we were getting off the plane, I realized why the stop was so abrupt - the runway was very short and we were on a Airbus 319. This airport reminded me a bit of the airport in Ithaca, NY (where I flew when I was in college). It had one gate (if you could call it that) and after walking a short distance across the tarmac we were in the "terminal". Once again, we were greeted upon arrival by the local committee. It was a very short trip to the hotel. Unlike Coquimbo, Temuco is not a resort town and the houses were more of what I expected Chilean houses to look like. They are quite small and very basic. The hotel has been recently renovated. Our rooms are quite small and although it is not the 5 star hotel with the spectacular ocean front view that we had in Coquimob, it was nice. After getting settled in, we watched two matches together in the FIFA office. The first was Carol-Anne's (Canada) match, Nigeria vs England. It was a good match to watch. England ended up winning the match. The second match was Erika's (costa Rica) match, Chile vs New Zealand. We watched the second match over dinner and there was a small crowd in the dining room watching along. New Zealand took an early lead, but Chile came back unfortunately it was a bit too little too late and Chile ended up losing. It is unfortunate that the home team will not make it to the quarterfinals, but hopefully the Chilean crowd will come out to support the other teams as well.

We went to bed around 11pm. There had been a party of some sort in the hotel that evening and my room was on the second floor so it was a bit difficult to fall asleep, but fortunately, I was able to get a good night's sleep.

The First Match Debriefing

2008-11-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

Friday morning we were back to our regular training schedule - breakfast at 7am and training at 8:30am. We had a speed workout today. After a warm-up, we had several sprinting drills and then various speed games for about an hour. After the physical training, we had about 90 minutes of technical training. We worked on positioning and teamwork with the assistant referees. We also had some concentration drills. We finished with offside drills. At first the referees were the players running in opposite directions with the assistant referees making the offside decisions. Then we switched and the referees had the flags. Of course, this always brings a few laughs. All in all, we had a great training session and for the first time in several days, the temperature was very nice (not too hot and not too cool), the sun was shining bright and there was a nice breeze.

We returned to the hotel, had lunch as usual and were gearing up for our first match debriefing. Funny that the massueses were fully booked that afternoon. Everyone gets anxious about the debriefing. This is where we spend about 2 hours watching the highlight clips from the matches. When I say highlights, generally speaking we watch both the good things that the referees had done in the first 8 matches as well as the "not so good" things. The match analyst and instructors spend numerous hours watching each of the game tapes trying to find good instructional situations. At least that is their story line.

Our first debriefing covered a couple of major topics: game management, foul recognition and disciplinary actions, positioning and offside decisions. I am pleased to say that there were a few clips from our first match, but all were positive. The entire team breathed a sigh of relief. All in all, the referees from all of the first round matches did a good job. Of course there are always areas for improvement and I'm sure we'll be focusing on some of those areas in our technical training sessions coming up.

We finished our debriefing around 8pm and finished the day with dinner. Our meals in Santiago have become a bit repetitive. We have a buffer which usually consists of fish, beef and occasionally chicken, pasta, potatoes, salad and fresh fruit. All in all, not a bad selection, but many of the referees have submitted requests for some new items. So we'll see what happens.

Back To Santiago - Thursday

2008-11-23T13:14:00.000-08:00

We arrived back at our hotel around 2pm and grabbed a bite to eat. Many of our colleagues once again greeted us on our return which was great. They all watched the match on the big screen tv the night before and congratulated the team for a good match. They had a good laugh about the commentator mentioning my name many times throughout the match. Of course, it was in Spanish so most of them only understood "arbitra americana, Jennifer Bennett". They also had a good laugh when the camera zoomed in on me when the GK needed medical assistance. Remind me to never stand with my back to the camera.... :)

Later that afternoon we had a recovery training session at a local gym. We spent about 10 minutes on the treadmill, bike and eliptical and then spent about 30 minutes stretching. After a short interval back at the hotel, we were once again on the bus headed to the stadium to watch the second match of the double header, Congo vs. Germany.

The trip over to the stadium was very bumpy. After having traveled in many newer buses, this one was a bit older. However, it was only 30 minutes and we were at the stadium. As we entered the stadium, we were once again greeted by all of the FIFA folks. We were in the VIP enclosed area overlooking the field. Looking out at the field, one could see a spectacular view of the snow-capped mountains backdrop. I wish I had my camera with me, but I didn't. The field in Santiago is the only artificial surface field used by the U20 WWC tournament. The heat of the day (approximately 90F) created a very hot temperature on the field and also a smell of burning rubber. Fortunately for the referee crew of the second match, the sun was starting to set and the field was now under shade.

As expected, the match was mostly one-sided, but watching the energy of the very colorful Congo players kept us all on the edge of our seats a bit. Prior to the kick-off the Congo players lined up along the center circle and held a mini prayer session. I imagine the tension and war in their country is very difficult for the Congo players. However, there were many Congo supporters in the stadium singing and dancing which was great to see. Once again, it was a great atmosphere. The match ended 5-0 to Germany. After the match, we gathered at the bus and headed for the hotel. Once again, it was a bumpy ride, but this time, it was not so short. At one point, our driver pulled behind another city bus and we could not figure out what he was doing. He got off the bus apparently to ask for directions. Of course, we had a bit of a laugh, but it was a very long day for many of us and we were all very hungry - a bad combination! Instead of being a 30 minute trip, it ended up lasting almost 90 minutes. Fortunately, one of the masseuses was on the bus and was able to provide guidance back to the hotel after she discovered that he was lost. I think one of the funniest parts of the story is that over the driver there was a digitial display which read (in Spanish) something to the effect of the navigational system was disabled.

We did manage to make it back to the hotel and had dinner at about 10:30pm that night. After dinner, the match assignments for the next 8 games were announced. Carol-Anne, my Canadian friend was headed off to Coquimbo to referee Nigeria vs England and my team was headed to Temuco to referee North Korea vs Norway. We were both excited about our assignments and I told Carol-Anne that she would love Coquimbo!

On to Coquimbo

2008-11-22T09:05:00.000-08:00

We left the hotel on time at 5:30pm on Tuesday evening. There were many of our colleagues in the lobby bidding us farewell. We traveled with 7 referees.

After a short 30 min trip to the airport, we checked in and boarded our plane.

When we travel within the country, we travel in economy and in this case we were at the back of the plane. As the plane was taking off, it was a bit bumpy and the plane was moving around quite a bit, but the flight itself was great. The gentleman sitting next to me was reading the newspaper and when he reached the sports section, he turned to me and pointed to my name in the newspaper asking if that was me. I nodded and he just smiled.

It was a short 45 minute flight to Coquimbo. As we were approaching the port city, we could see the beautiful beaches on the west side of the town and the mountains on the east side. The weather was cloudy and quite cool which was quite a change from Santiago. I now understand why they have problems in Chile with planes occasionally nearly missing the mountains. The clouds hide the mountain peaks and the mountains are quite close to the towns. As we debarked the plane, I grabbed the newspaper that the gentleman left in the seat pocket and headed down the stairs to the tarmac (a nice little momento). As I walked along the tarmac, I looked down at my watch and noted that it was exactly 24 hours before kick-off of the opening match - already I can feel my heart rate increase.

The airport at Coquimbo was very quaint. We received a warm welcome from our match assessor and the local organizing members. Within 20 minutes, we arrived at our spectacular 5 star beach front hotel, called Enjoy. The hotel had many amenities including a casino. Thankfully we would not be here long enough to lose any money at the hands of the "One Arm Bandits".

When I entered my room and opened the curtains, I could not believe the beautiful view of the ocean right outside my window.

It was about 9:30pm so we grabbed dinner and then headed off to bed to get ready for our big day. We had some difficulty ordering at the restaurant as they did not have English menus and one of the plates that arrived (pictured below), was a surprise to all of us!

The bed at the hotel did not disappoint me. I had a fantastic night sleep waking up for breakfast at 8:30am. I have to admit that I had an embarrassing start to the day. I went to take a shower and could not for the life of me figure out how to turn the shower on. I tried everything, but in the end had to call the hotel lobby. They sent up the cleaning lady so I knew this was probably a common occurrence. She showed me how to turn it on (there was a button that had to be pushed with great force). I thanked her and she left. So I jumped in the shower and within less than 10 seconds, the shower turned off again. I started to feel like I must be on Candid Camera. There was no way that I was going to call the lobby AGAIN. So I figured I would just live with my quick 10 second intervals. After polling the others at breakfast, they had the same problem and they too had to call the front desk. As I said, I think this must happen often.

Our team enjoyed our breakfast together. It was great to have many different food selections from those that we have every day in Santiago. After breakfast, we all went for a walk along the beach. It was cool and windy, but perfect for a walk along the ocean front. There were many stray dogs hanging out on the beach that we greeted along the way as well as a few fisherman and of course the obligatory seagulls and even some pelicans.

The first referee crew left 2 hours prior to their match (at 1pm) while our crew met for lunch and had our pregame meeting. After lunch, we headed over to the stadium to watch the first match. The stadium sat atop a hill overlooking the port. The stadium itself had a maximum capacity of approximately 15,000 and had been recently renovated. We had a great view of the first match, Nigeria vs. New Zealand. At half-time, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our match.

At 7:10pm, we met in the lobby in our FIFA suits with our bags packed ready for the big match ahead. We felt very comfortable with our team as we have worked together before; however, as always we all had the butterflies in our stomachs. It was a big match and they were expecting a sold out crowd. When we arrived, the fans were lined up for nearly 1 1/2 blocks at the entrance. What a great sight! I thought to myself that women's football (soccer) has come along way. As we arrived at the stadium we were greeted by security as well as the General Coordinator, Match Commissioner and Match Assessor. Everywhere you look, there are people getting ready for the match. The ball kids were getting their instructions. There were performers getting ready for the pre-match ceremonies and of course, all of the FIFA folks getting ready for the arrival of the dignitaries. We headed out to check the pitch prior to the match, but as we discovered, the pitch was occupied with many performers so we decided not to become part of the show. We headed back to the referee locker room and got the team ready for warm-ups. Warm-ups lasted about 20 minutes and the entire time, I felt a big smile on my face. The atmosphere was phenomenal. It was a sold out crowd and they were all very enthousiastic. After the warm-ups, we made our final preparations and then lined up with the teams for the official entrance. The fans went crazy when we entered the field and I could feel goosebumps up and down my arms. What a fantastic experience! We lined up and FIFA President Blatter, Chilean President Ms. Bachelet, Franz Beckenbauer and numerous other dignitaries shook hands one by one with the English players. As they approached the referees, I stepped forward and had the honor of introducing my team. President Blatter wished us well and continued on to the Chilean players. We were minutes away from the kick-off and things were going very well, but the butterflies were building. After the anthems, we had the coin toss and we were ready to go. I received the signal from the General Coordinator to start the match and with that, I blew the whistle and the match was started.

The match went very well. At half-time, both teams were even at 0-0. The match had good pace and at times there were some very promising attacks from both sides. The Chilean fans were happy with the performance of their team. In the second half, we had 2 goals from England and several chances from Chile. We had 1 caution for Chile and 3 for England. Both teams displayed fair play and good sportsmanship. The team really enjoyed the match. The referee team worked very well together. At the end of the match, we waited for both teams to shake hands and then we headed to the changing room to complete the paperwork. When we arrived, the Match Assessor, General Coordinator and Match Commissioner congratulated us for a good match. We were happy with the match, but as always, it is good to hear compliments from others who were watching the match. Our referee colleagues on the first match also greeted us at the changing room.

It was a late night as we returned to the hotel after midnight. We had a meal at the hotel and then headed off to bed. The next morning a few of us met in the lobby for a run on the beach. As I was waiting for the others, I had a quick chat with Franz Beckenbauer. He was very pleased with the match and congratulated me. I could not believe that I was standing in the lobby of a 5 star hotel having a chat with one of the greatest players - life is great! After a few minutes, the others met me in the lobby and although we were tired, we could not pass up the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful jog along the ocean. We were once again met by the stray dogs, but this time, they seemed quite tired and just watched us as we past. We grabbed a quick breakfast and then were taken back to the airport around 10:30am. Of course, we all commented that we wish we could stay, but we boarded the plane and headed back to Santiago.

The Day Before the Matches Begin

2008-11-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today, we will depart for our match in Coquimbo. We are all very excited. My crew will be joined by a crew from Europe for our matches. There are two matches at each stadium. It is sunny and warm once again. Unlike the last couple of days, today, I am well equipped with my sun screen. The sun is quite intense here in Chile.

We had a shortened training this morning as is typical the day before a match. We had a warm-up and then several sprints before heading back to the hotel. The others remained at the field for additional fitness training and techinal training. I returned to the hotel and packed my bags for our flight later this afternoon. We have all been anxiously waiting the start of the tournament and now we are only 1 day away. It promises to be a very good tournament.

The Day After the Fitness Test

2008-11-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

Today is Monday and everyone is a bit slow to get moving. Everyone is also a bit sun burned from Sunday. Some are still adjusting to the time zone changes and jet lag and some are recovering from the fitness test the day before. We started the day as we always do with breakfast at 7am and then headed off for light training at a new facility. We moved to a German school for the remainder of the tournament. The new facilities are quite nice as well. As we headed to the track and field, we passed many clay tennis courts and a few physio buildings. We often get strange looks from the bystanders as all 42 of us are led by our two instructors, Kati (Finland) and Ingrid (Sweden), our two fitness trainers, Jean Baptiste (Belgium) and Carla (Portugal) and our phyical therapist, Denise (Switzerland) and two masseuses, Consuela and Elisa (Chile). It is quite a crew!

We had a light warm-up and then started stretching. There were moans from all around - there are definitely some tight muscles the day after the test. All in all, everyone was in very good spirits and we all had a few laughs. We had a longer technical session working on team work. We practiced offside and in/out touch drills. In one of our drills, the referees were the players so we had a lot of fun setting up some interesting offside situations for the assistants. Of course, many of our shots went awry, but fortunately we had a few ball chasers to help out. It's always good to get the mind working again after traveling many hours and then having the fitness test.

Monday afternoon, we had our group photo. We were joined by Sonia who arrived only minutes earlier from her long travels. After the group photo, we had our meeting. We went over some additional information for the matches and then the assignments for the first round were announced.

I am honored to announce that I have been asked to referee the Opening Match, Chile vs England with my colleagues, Rita (Mexico), Cindy (TnT) and Therese (Guinea). We have a tri-lingual group with English, Spanish and French. We will be traveling to Coquimbo Tuesday afternoon. The match promises to have a great atmosphere with both the FIFA President, Mr. Blatter and the President of Chile, Ms. Michelle Bachelet in attendance. Our team is very excited to be given the honor to referee this match. We will be ready and will do our best!

Fitness Test

2008-11-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

So Sunday was the fitness test. We had breakfast in the morning and then headed over to the track at 8am. The track was located at an American school in a secluded environment. One side of the track was at the base of a steep hill nicely protected from any major wind and the other side had a nice view of the mountains. The weather was sunny and warm - getting warmer as every minute passed.

The referees ran first and then two groups of assistants. After a 30 minute warm-up, we ran the sprints first. I was 4th in my group behind a track athlete from Guinea. Fortunately all of the referees passed the sprints so we did not have to have any re-runs! We had 4 groups of either 3 or 4 referees around the track. CONCACAF referees ran together which was great. All of the referees passed the test with flying colors. What a great feeling to have that behind you.

Concacaf referees:

The "happy" group of referees:

Of course the first group of assistants arrived as we were running the interval test so I'm sure the anxiety was building for them. The CONCACAF assistant referees were running in the 2nd group along with AFC (Asia), and CAF (Africa). All of the CONCACAF assistant referees passed the fitness test which was a great relief for all of us. The final group of assistant referees to run was COMEBOL (South America) and EUFA (Europe). Overall, the fitness test was a great success. Despite the heat (which reached probably 85-90F by the end of the test), there were only a few failures.

Bibi, German Referee

Helen and Anna, Swedish Assistant Referees

We all returned together to the hotel and there was a great sense of relief for all of the referees. With the fitness test behind us, we were all starting to look forward to the start of the tournament. After the fitness test, we had the remainder of the day free. Later that evening we had our official referee dinner. This was our first official opportunity to leave the hotel and see a bit of the city. We all dressed up in our FIFA official suits and headed to a restaurant situated on the top of a hill overlooking the city.

Concacaf Referees

We had an amazing view of the city. We had a tasty dinner and were presented with our medals in the presence of the FIFA referee committee members.

Santiago is surrounded by beautiful snow-capped mountains, but until Sunday we were not able to see them. These last few days we have had some spectacular views of the mountains and some stunning sunsets.

Carol Anne (Canada), Jen, Janey (Match Analyst, England) and Gyongii (Hungary)

Lada (Croatia), Karine (France), Jean Baptiste (Belgium), Airlie (Australia) and Jen

Arrival in Chile!

2008-11-18T06:58:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog! I am a little bit behind on reporting so I will try to catch up. I arrived in Santiago, Chile on Thursday morning, 13 Nov. The weather was a bit overcast, but pleasant. The tournament officials met me at the airport and transported myself and my colleague, Cindy (Trinidad and Tobago) to the hotel.

When we arrived at the hotel we were immediately greeted by many of our friends who had arrived earlier. There are 42 referees in total - 14 referees, 28 assistant referees from all over the world. The referees come from the following countries: Japan, Australia, India, Malaysia, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuala, Togo, Egypt, Guinea, Germany, Austria, Romania, Poland, Sweden, Croatia, England, Hungary, Italy, France, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Guyana and US.

After eating lunch, we received our Adidas gear bag full of training gear, referee uniforms and a few other goodies. I started settling in to my new home, at least for the next few weeks. After dinner, I headed off to bed. Chile is 5 hours ahead of California so morning was going to come very quickly.

We start off every day the same here in Chile. Breakfast between 7-8am and training from 8:30am-12pm. However, on Friday, we did not have any training, but instead we met for our official meeting. We went over the tournament regulations and the key points for the tournament. Lunch is always at 1pm and dinner at 8pm. In between we have meetings and some free time (where I try to catch up on work and emails). We do not have Internet access in our room, but we can connect to the Wiki in the lobby. So at any moment, you will often see several referees sitting around the lobby sending emails or using Skype to catch up with family and friends. We have taken over the hotel despite the few business people and tourists who are always wondering who all of these women in Adidas gear are!

Saturday we had our first day of training which was good to stretch our legs and become acquainted with our best friend, the track. We had a brief technical training session and then headed back to the hotel for lunch and some more meetings. Everyone was a bit nervous on Saturday as the fitness test was scheduled for Sunday morning. We received our assignments for the fitness test. Normally the ladies are very chatty, but on Saturday night, it was very quiet.

I forgot to mention that in our free time we also have two masseuses at our disposal. We are training them to give stronger massages, but I think they do not understand yet what we are trying to tell them (we'll keep working on them). :)