Augsburg

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days, things have been really busy. As VP mentioned, we started out the Fourth of July with a journey from Wolfsburg to Frankfurt. After a quick recovery session and changing laundry out real fast, Carol Anne, Kari and I were back on the train to Augsburg to officiate England v Japan. The weather was great in Augsburg. In Wolfsburg, the weather was a little less lovely as you can see in this photo Kari took on our VW tour.
Augsburg is a lovely place, but because the matches were so close together, we spent a lot of time resting and reading. Every game at this tournament is important and this match determined who got first and second place in the group. The game isn't just physically demanding, but it requires a huge amount of concentration and multi-tasking. There are more cameras watching the field than referees and we have to vigilant not just during the match, but in our preparation and even after the game as we walk off the field.

The game was really enjoyable and, even though we missed VP, it was great to have another opportunity to work. One of the cool things about visiting Augsburg was the chance the catch up with Jen Bennett. Just like back home, we get assessed on every game and in Augsburg, Jen was our assessor. Because there are only a few referee types at each of the venues, we end up hanging out with our assessor for meals so it was nice to spend some time with a familiar face from home.
As we were warming up, I thought back to all the games and the work, and time that went into getting here and how fortunate we've been to get the chance to work with fantastic people in lovely venues, and with really enthusiastic crowds. How often do you get applause when you warm up for a game? I can't be 100% sure, but I think they were actually cheering for us.

So, now we're back in Frankfurt. We went and watched the entertaining game between Brazil and Equatorial Guinea at the stadium and other games on tv.
The assignments have just been handed out for the quarterfinals. Veronica will be traveling back to Wolfsburg to be the fifth official (back up assistant referee) with the Mexican crew and Carol Anne (fourth official) for the game between Germany and Japan on the 9th at 11:45 am west coast time. Beginning with the quarterfinals, they've begun assigning a fifth official to be prepared to jump into the game if an assistant referee gets injured during the game. Fourth officials are referees and at this level, referees and assistant referees are very specialized. Many of the referees have not been an assistant in years and with the importance of each decision, having someone who knows the position is critical. We are looking forward to watching what should be some exciting quarterfinal matches.