Marrufo and Rockwell to make World Cup debuts

Jair Marrufo and Corey Rockwell will make their on-field World Cup debuts on Saturday when they take part in Belgium’s meeting with Tunisia as center referee and assistant referee respectively.

Marrufo has previously served as an assistant VAR at the tournament on four occasions, a role Rockwell has fulfilled once, but it is the first time either official will appear amongst the on-field crew.

Mark Geiger will also feature in the game as the VAR, with Joe Fletcher assisting him in the booth as assistant VAR 2. The on-field pair will be joined by assistant referee Juan Zumba of Slovenia, with Andres Cunha of Uruguay as the fourth official.

Tunisia are the highest ranked African nation at the 2018 World Cup, but if they fail to take anything from the Group G encounter, their elimination from the competition would be all-but-certain after losing to England in their opener on Monday.

Belgium, one of the highest ranked teams in the world, will be looking to follow up their 3-0 victory over Panama with a similar result to maintain their spot at the top of the group table.

Elsewhere, Fletcher and Geiger will also serve as assistant VARs in Friday’s Group E clash between Brazil and Costa Rica.

Geiger and Fletcher have previously served a number of World Cup assignments, including Wednesday’s game between Portugal and Morocco, when Geiger was the center referee and Fletcher was an assistant, along with Frank Anderson.

It will be the fourth time Geiger has worked in the booth at this year’s tournament, and Fletcher’s third.

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