Benito Archundia

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Archundia and the second or maternal family name is Téllez.

Benito Armando Archundia Téllez (born March 21, 1966) is a retired Mexican football referee. He is known in Mexico as Armando Archundia, but appears as Benito Archundia in FIFA records. He has been a professional referee since 1985 and has had his FIFA referee permission since 1993. His first fixture as an international referee was the 1994 match between USA and Greece.

Archundia is the all-time leader in appearances at the FIFA World Cup, being one of only two referees who have been appointed for 8 matches, the other being Joël Quiniou. He also shares the record for the most matches officiated in a single World Cup (5 in 2006). The only others who have achieved this feat are Horacio Elizondo in 2006, and Ravshan Irmatov in 2010.[1]

In addition, he has supervised the final of the FIFA Club World Cup twice, in 2005 and 2009.

He originally planned to retire at the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but decided to continue for at least another year. He was the referee in the grand opening of the Estadio Omnilife, which featured Guadalajara vs Manchester United.[2]

In addition to working as a professional referee, Archundia is a lawyer and economist.

World Cup

World Cup 2006

Archundia made his first World Cup appearance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and refereed a total of five matches, equaling the most number of matches by an individual referee (along with Argentina's Horacio Elizondo). His final game was the semi-final between Germany and Italy. In general he was one of the most respected and proficient referees at the 2006 World Cup, and give out an average of only 3 cards per game (the lowest of any referee at the competition).[3]

TournamentDateVenueRoundTeam 1ResultTeam 2
2006June 13Germany Olympiastadion, BerlinFirst Round Brazil1 – 0 Croatia
2006June 18Germany Zentralstadion, LeipzigFirst Round France1 – 1 South Korea
2006June 22Germany FIFA WM Stadion Hamburg, HamburgFirst Round Czech Republic0 – 2 Italy
2006June 26Germany FIFA WM Stadion Köln, CologneRound of 16  Switzerland0 – 0 (0 – 3 pk) Ukraine
2006July 4Germany FIFA WM Stadion Dortmund, DortmundSemi-finals Germany0 – 2 (a.e.t.) Italy

World Cup 2010

His second World Cup appearance was in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and refereed a total of three matches. His final game was the third place play-off between Germany and Uruguay.

TournamentDateVenueRoundTeam 1ResultTeam 2
2010June 14South Africa Cape Town Stadium, Cape TownFirst Round Italy1 – 1 Paraguay
2010June 25South Africa Moses Mabhida Stadium, DurbanFirst Round Portugal0 – 0 Brazil
2010July 10South Africa Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port ElizabethThird place play-off Uruguay2 – 3 Germany

Controversies

Archundia has officiated two matches involving the Canada national soccer team where he made controversial decisions during the final minutes.

The first controversy occurred during a World Cup qualifier between Canada and Honduras played in Edmonton on September 4, 2004. With Canada leading 1-0 in the 86th minute, Canada defender Mark Watson appeared to trip David Suazo in the penalty area. Archundia awarded a penalty kick which Amado Guevara converted to tie the score. Replays show that Mark Watson did not actually make contact with David Suazo on the play.[4] One minute later, Olivier Occean appeared to score a second goal for Canada, but Archundia whistled the play dead after calling a foul against Occean for a dangerous high kick. Following the decision, manager Frank Yallop and several Canada players argued that the foul call was erroneous.[4] The Canadians felt aggrieved following the draw, believing that they should have been entitled to a victory.

A third controversy involving Archundia occurred during the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-final between the United States and Canada played in Chicago on June 21, 2007. With the United States leading 2-1 in stoppage time, Atiba Hutchinson appeared to score for Canada to tie the game in the dying seconds, but Archundia whistled the play dead for offside. The Canadian Press reported that replays show Hutchinson in an onside position at the time of Patrice Bernier's pass, and that he received the ball only after it was played by American defender Oguchi Onyewu.[5] Moments later, Archundia called time while the Canadian players and staff argued the call.

Another controversy soon followed in the Copa América 2007 during the group stage match between Peru and Venezuela. In the 62nd minute of the match, with Venezuela leading 1-0 and Peru playing down a man since the 14th minute, Peruvian forward Paolo Guerrero centers the ball just in front of the Venezuelan goal inside the goal area. Peruvian captain Claudio Pizarro and Venezuelan defender Hector Gonzalez raced to the ball. Pizarro appeared to have great opportunity to tap the ball past a sole defender on the goal line, however Gonzalez slid and swept the ball away, but not before taking Pizarro off his feet. Archundia refused to award the penalty and decided to play on, to the dismay of the commentators and several fans, who felt he missed the call.[6]

During the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup match between Estudiantes de La Plata and FC Barcelona, Archundia was criticised in some Spanish media sources for several decisions felt to have been to the disadvantage of FC Barcelona,[7] most notably showing a yellow card to Lionel Messi for simulation and failing to award a penalty following a perceived foul by Estudiantes goalkeeper Damián Albil on Xavi Hernandez.

References

External links

Preceded by
Netherlands Dick Jol
FIFA Club World Cup final match referees
2005
Benito Archundia
Succeeded by
Guatemala Carlos Batres
Preceded by
Uzbekistan Ravshan Irmatov
FIFA Club World Cup final match referees
2009
Benito Archundia
Succeeded by
Japan Yuichi Nishimura
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