In the last minutes of this Sunday, Conmebol made official the appointments of the referee teams for the semifinals for the Copa América Yet the Argentine National Team He got a head judge who brings back the best memories. Its about Chilean Piero Mazawho controlled the Very final that the albiceleste team obtained against Italy in 2022 and also the resounding victory at the Maracaná against Brazil, last November, for the Qualifiers for the next World Cup.
The Chilean judge, 39 years old and international since 2018, will be accompanied on Tuesday at 9 p.m. (Argentine time) at MetLife Stadium by his compatriots Claudio Urrutia and José Retamal as assistants and Cristian Garay and Juan Serrano as fourth and fifth referees, respectively. . Meanwhile, the VAR will be Juan Lara, while the AVAR will be Edson Cisternas, Augusto Menéndez (the only non-Chilean, since he is from Paraguay) and Rodrigo Carabajal.
The Finalissima played at Wembley on June 6, 2022, in which Argentina achieved a resounding 3-0 victory against Italy that allowed it to win the second title of the Scaloni era, was the first duel of international significance in which Maza directed to Argentina.
Just over a year after that duel in London between the winner of the Copa América 2021 and the winner of Euro 2020, on November 22, 2023, the Chilean once again led the Argentine team and it was another night that ended with smiles from the sporting point of view for the world champion team, which won 1-0 against Brazil at the Maracaná thanks to a great header from Nicolás Otamendi, on the sixth stop on the road to Canada-United States-Mexico 2026.
Other positive antecedent for Argentina being led by Maza, although in this case in the sub 23, it was when in February 2020 it was crowned champion of the Pre-Olympic and got its ticket for the Tokyo Olympic Games with a 2-1 victory against Colombia.
In the current edition of the Copa Américathe Chilean judge who was fired by Javier Castrilli when the Argentine presided over the ANFP Referees Commission, and then reinstated, led two meetings. In the first, Uruguay beat Panama 3-1, while in the remaining one, Brazil beat Panama 4-1, both in the group stage.
A Mexican referee for the semifinal between Colombia and Uruguay
For its part, the Mexican César Ramos will be in charge of dispensing justice in the remaining semifinal of the Copa América between Colombia and Uruguaywhich will be played on Wednesday at 9 p.m. (Argentine time) at the Bank of America stadium in the city of Charlotte.
Ramos will be supported by his compatriots Alberto Morín and Marco Bisguerra as assistants, while the fourth referee will be Mario Escobar and the fifth, Humberto Panjoj, both from Guatemala. The Ecuadorian Carlos Orbe will be on the VAR, and Christian Lescano (Ecuador), Joel Alarcón (Peru) and Bryan Loayza (Ecuador) will be on the AVAR.
Ramos, 40 years old and an international judge since 2014, directed the match between Brazil and Costa Rica in this edition of the continental tournament, a 0-0 draw greatly celebrated by the Ticos and which left Verdeamarela bitter.
He then controlled the match in which Argentina beat Peru in Miami 2-0, in the last duel of Scaloni’s team in Group A. It was the third time that the Mexican led the albiceleste team.