Today CONCACAF informed the teams who will be the officiating crew for the 2nd leg of the Champions League final on Wednesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium:
This is to advise you of the appointments for the Wednesday, April 27, 2011 match between Real Salt Lake and CF Monterrey at the Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy at 8 pm Local Time (10 pm ET).
Referee: Roberto Moreno (PAN)
Assistant 1: Daniel Williamson (PAN)
Assistant 2: Jaime Smith (PAN)
4th Official: Jafeth Perea (PAN)
Match Commissioner: Yolanda Camacho-Kortman (CRC)
Referee Assessor: Amilcar Burgos (HON)
You might remember Roberto Moreno (who also goes by Roberto Moreno Salazar) form the 2-1 USMNT loss in Mexico City in World Cup qualifying which was a fairly evenly called match with a lot of physical play and huge stakes. Prior to that match SBI did a good luck at Roberto, click here to read that report. He was also the official in charge of the 3-2 US win in Honduras in the last round of World Cup qualifying, which secured the USMNT their place in South Africa.
So I don't expect that either side will get any special treatment and it should be a evenly called match, I always worry that even the best official can be put under a lot of pressure in high stakes matches like this, but clearly this is far from the first rodeo for Moreno.
OFF MY SOAPBOX