Mexico World Cup 2014: El Tri To Have Colombian Referee Wilmar Roldán Against Cameroon

Mexico's World Cup debut will be a little smoother: El Tri may have a slight advantage at being better understood compared to the Cameroonians. FIFA announced the triplet that will be refereeing the opening game for El Tri's Brazil 2014 campaign in the city of Natal, and Colombian Wilmar Roldán will be heading the team. He will be accompanied by his Assistants Humberto Clavijo as number one linesman and Eduardo Diaz as second linesman.

The Fourth Official will be Norbert Hauata, from Tahiti, while Marwa Range from Kenya will serve as Reserve Umpire. Roldán is 34 years old and has been seen internationally ince 2008. Earlier this year was chosen as Best South American Referee by the Uruguayan newspaper "El País": Brazil 2014 will be his first World Cup. In his 21-year career he has seen many a soccer field, delving into the world of arbitration for 12 years where his idols have been Pierluigi Collina and Javier Castrilli.

He debuted as a professional referee in 2003 during Millonarios-Once Caldas game and teaches Physical Education. He also called two Copa Libertadores Finals, eight finals tournament of his country, plus he has refereed in Olympic Games and the reopening of the Maracana Stadium between Brazil and England. The inaugural game between Brazil and Croatia in Sao Paulo will be refereed by Japanese Yuichi Nishimura, while the match between Spain and Holland that will be held on Friday in Salvador, will be the responsibility of the Italian Nicola Rizzoli.