Wilton Pereira Sampaio, 40, from Goiás, was announced this Thursday (8) as the main referee of the quarter-final duel of the Qatar World Cup between England and France, at 4 pm (Brasília time) this Saturday (10), at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor.
He will have as assistant 1 Bruno Boschilia, 39, from Paraná, and assistant 2, also from Goiás, Bruno Pires, 34. The fourth referee will be Mohamed Mohammed, from the United Arab Emirates.
Wilton Sampaio worked in three games at the World Cup: Senegal 0 x 2 Netherlands and Poland 2 x 0 Saudi Arabia, in the group stage, and Holland 3 x 1 USA, in the round of 16.
The other Brazilian referee in Qatar, Raphael Claus, 43, from São Paulo, refereed the games England 6 x 2 Iran and Canada 1 x 2 Morocco, both in the group stage. He and his assistants Danilo Simon, Rodrigo Figueiredo and Neuza Back are still available for the World Cup.
However, if the Brazilian team overcomes Croatia at 12:00h this Friday (9th), they will return home, since Fifa does not authorize judges of the semifinalist selections to continue in the tournament.
If Brazil is eliminated, however, they still have a chance to be chosen, even for the final. To date, only two Brazilian referees have refereed World Cup finals: Arnaldo Cezar Coelho, in Spain-1982 (Italy 3 x 1 Germany), and Romualdo Arppi Filho, in Mexico-1986 (Argentina 3 x 2 Germany).
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