A lot has been made about the referee designations for the wild card games in Liga MX. Certainly the appointment that raised the most eyebrows was Luis Enrique Santander. “Tribilin” or “Goofy” as he’s affectionately known due to his resemblance with the beloved Disney character was of course the ref in the final game of Chivas’ last championship. To be more specific he was their ref for all of their second leg games in those playoffs. Due to his performances he’s been tagged as a Chivas supporter by fans.
Apart from his designation though, the referee’s commission actually is sending out their best refs for this weekend’s games. Leaving some controversial figures like “Curro” Hernandez on the outside looking in. Here are the refs that will be in charge of dispensing justice in Liga MX fields this weekend.
Tigres vs Necaxa – Cesar Ramos Palazuelos
The first game of the wild card round is going to be played by Tigres and Necaxa, at 7pm Central Time on Saturday. Cesar Arturo Ramos Palazuelos, widely considered the best Mexican referee, has been assigned to this game. His assignment does not come without controversy since he had a shaky outing in the last week of the season. He’ll likely get a game though from now until he has to head to Qatar. He’s the only Mexican head referee that will take part in the World Cup. Adonai Escobedo, another highly talked about figure will be in the VAR truck, he’s a name to watch out for.
Cruz Azul vs Leon – Fernando Guerrero
Cruz Azul vs Leon is going to be headed by the man that they call, “The Singer ”, Fernando Guerrero is also one of the top refs in Liga MX. This matchup is set to take place at 9:15 pm Central Time on Saturday. Those 15 minutes past the hour are essentially a grace period just in case the previous game goes to penalties or has any type of delay. Jorge Antonio Perez Duran, and the face of Liga MX referee nepotism Edgar Allan Morales will be in the VAR truck. This designation didn’t spark as much uproar as some of the others.
Toluca vs Juarez – Marco Antonio Ortiz
“The Cat” Marco Antonio Ortiz is going to have to head to Toluca rather early to take charge of this game that will be taking place at 12pm Central Time on Sunday. The date and time of this game came under more scrutiny than anything else. At the end of the day Toluca are being allowed to play the game at their usual game time. Plenty of the teams coming from up north like Juarez FC have been known to have issues visiting the Toluca altitude, so that’s certainly something to watch. Eduardo Galvan, and Jorge Camacho will be in charge of VAR. Luckily for Juarez the commission kept “Curro” Hernandez out of this game. He’s had quite a few mistakes this season that coincidentally favored Toluca in multiple games.
Puebla vs Chivas – Luis Enrique Santander
Finally, we get to the designation that sparked the most controversy. There are a couple of odd things about this game that Luis Enrique Santander is entrusted with dispensing justice in. It will be played at 4:30 pm Central Time on Sunday. That’s by no means a usual time and day for Puebla games. We’ve already mentioned the fact that Santander has his history with Chivas. A Chivas win could actually spark a playoff version of “El Clasico” in the next round versus Club America. That idea has sparked even more rumors! The commission is sending Erick Yair Miranda, a fellow ref from the Irapuato referee college just like Santander to help him out in VAR. We’ll have to wait and see if the suspicions of fraud are valid or not!
