After all of the controversy surrounding the refs in the wildcard round the referee commission decided to only have one of the refs that had a wild card game come back for the first leg of the quarter finals. That ref is none other than “The Cat” Marco Antonio Ortiz. He certainly had the least controversial outing of the Wild Card round. His game Toluca vs Juarez really didn’t feature too many contested plays that decided the outcome of the matchup.
From there we’ll see all new faces as head refs in this round. To be honest, that’s not necessarily something that relieves fans of the teams that are going to be involved in the Quarter Final rounds. If you were wondering, the ref that had the most controversial outing of all in the Wild Card round, Luis Enrique “Tribilin” Santander is getting a designation. He’ll be the 4th ref in the Cruz Azul versus Monterrey matchup. What’s perhaps more concerning is that his pal Erick Yair Miranda will reprise his controversial role as VAR official for that same match!
Marco Antonio Ortiz – Puebla vs America, Wednesday 8pm EST
“The Cat” is widely considered one of the best referees in Liga MX. As we previously mentioned he had a decent outing in his game over the weekend. Make no mistake about it, the ongoing claims by Jose Ramon Fernandez that Liga MX is rigged and that Club America will win the title are weighing heavy on the commission. They are not giving Club America games to young refs.
Victor Alfonso Caceres – Cruz Azul vs Monterrey, Wednesday 10pm EST
Speaking of young refs, this one is a bit of a surprise. Although there’s not necessarily animosity between these two teams this can be a highly contested matchup. Victor Alfonso Caceres, who is not one of the most recognizable faces in the refereeing world, gets the designation.
Perhaps what’s most controversial about this game is that as we mentioned Luis Enrique Santander is getting a pay day since he’s going to be holding the board as the 4th ref. Erick Yair Miranda is back in VAR. This is one of the matchups that’s going to be under the microscope for sure.
Diego Montaño – Toluca vs Club Santos, Thursday 8:06 pm EST
Montaño has been one of the refs that’s been able to find his way into the good graces of the commission. They may have been a bit reluctant to throw him into big games, but this is certainly a good opportunity for him. One of the things he may have to watch out for is Toluca players getting heated after some of his decisions. In their game against Juarez there were plenty of players looking for fights, but overall that can be chalked down to the fact that Juarez players were provoking them after they got down on the scoreboard. Hopefully Montaño can put in a good job. It’s always preferable to have a good number of decent refs ready to go. Some of these younger guys haven’t necessarily been able to step up.
Fernando “Curro” Hernandez – Tigres vs Pachuca, Thursday 10:06 pm EST
If we had to come out and say that we are worried about a designation it certainly would be this one. Fernando Hernandez has been awful in his last few games. At least Toluca is not in the contest because that’s the team that he’s clearly favored this season. This is a game between a young dynamic team versus an old slow adversary. Watch out for those Tigres fouls in the midfield. If “El Curro” is not on his game this one can get out of hand!
