After 76 years…a historical phenomenon brings together the Argentine rulers in the World Cup

Argentine refereeing lived a historic day in the current edition of the World Cup finals, after two referees officiated two different matches at the same time.

On Thursday, referee Yale Falcon Perez officiated the match between Mexico and the Czech Republic in the third round of Group A matches, and at the same time his compatriot Facundo Tello’s whistle was officiating the match between South Korea and South Africa.

The Argentine magazine El Grafico confirmed that this had happened for the first time in 76 years, specifically since the World Cup in Brazil in 1950.

The last precedent in this regard dates back to July 2, 1950, in which the Englishman George Reeder officiated the match between Uruguay and Bolivia in the fourth group, which ended with the victory of the former 8-0. At the same time, his compatriot Arthur Allis was officiating the match between Italy and Paraguay, which witnessed the victory of the “Azzuri” with two unanswered goals, in the third group.

The matter appeared for the first time in the second edition of the World Cup, which was held in Italy in 1934, specifically on May 27, during which the two Italian referees, Francesco Mattia and Rinaldo Barlasena, officiated the matches between Germany and Belgium (5-2), and Hungary and Egypt (4-2), which were held for the round of 16 and began at 16:30 local time.

Four days later, specifically on May 31, 1934, the same thing happened again with the same Italian duo, officiating the matches of Germany against Sweden (2-1), and Austria against Hungary (2-1) in the quarter-finals.

This scene is scheduled to be repeated in the current edition of the World Cup for the second time, after FIFA announced the assignment of English duo Michael Oliver and his compatriot Anthony Taylor to manage the matches of France against Norway and Iraq against Senegal, respectively, scheduled for Friday in Group Nine.