American referee and South Jersey native Mark Geiger gives a yellow card to Greece's Sokratis Papastathopoulos (19) at the World Cup. (AP Photo)
Major League Soccer fans (like me) love to complain about the level of officiating in the league. And for good reason -- it's pretty horrible.
But after one week at the World Cup, it could be argued that one of those MLS referees has been the best of the bunch.
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South Jersey native Mark Geiger -- who had to quit his job as a high school teacher in order to be considered for the World Cup -- has done a superb job in the two games he's officiated so far: Colombia vs. Greece and yesterday's Chile-Spain match.
According to a story today on Philly.com, Mark's brother said Mark's decision to retire from teaching at Lacey Township High School was a tough one. He had always taught and reffed on the side, but in order to be considered for the World Cup, he had to retire.
"He didn't want to go," said Steven Geiger, Mark's brother, who also teaches math at Lacey. "But once the PRO started and he had that opportunity, he knew if he wanted to get to [the World Cup] he couldn't do both things."
MLS people like to make jokes when we hear that Geiger is assigned to a game, like placing odds on how quickly the first card will be issued or who will be sent off first. But he has been impressive in Brazil.
He issued just three yellow cards in Colombia's 3-0 win over Greece, and three in Chile's 2-0 win over Spain on Wednesday. That game was played in front of a raucous crowd at the legendary Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Officials in the World Cup are assigned just one game and then evaluated before getting another game. For instance, Japanese ref Yuishi Nichimura has not been assigned to another game yet after awarding an absolute joke penalty kick in the tournament opener between Brazil and Croatia (he will be the fourth official on the sideline for Honduras-Ecuador on Saturday.
Many argue that the best refs in the world should be at the World Cup. If that was the case, the European contingent would likely dominate the official ranks. But instead, FIFA tries to bring officials from all areas of the globe.
Geiger is more than just holding his own in a tournament that actually has been pretty well officiated, outside of that dubious penalty call in the opener.
The Beachwood, N.J., native has worked the FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2012 Olympics. But no American official has ever worked a game in the knockout round of the World Cup.
Considering Geiger's performance so far, that is likely to change next week (assignments have not been announced past Saturday's matches). And if he keeps it up, you'd have to think he'll be in the running for the semifinals or even the final.
Although if that happens, expect European soccer-heads' heads to explode.