Family sent Elfath screenshots. He felt anxious despite the video assistant referee confirming the call.
After Ghana fans trolled him on LinkedIn, his chief executive at a software company he works for asked him if he needed to sue somebody.
Elfath reassured him it was part of being a World Cup referee. “Small moments become huge moments,” said Elfath.
For most referees, the gaps between matches are the hardest moments. At first, the atmosphere is “almost celebratory”, Meier recalled.
“We’ve all gone through this process together, so there’s this bond amongst us that only we can understand,” said Nesbitt.
But that changes as the group stage nears its end.
Referees find themselves competing with each other, with the best performers in training and on matchdays earning appointments in the knockout rounds.
The rest are sent home.
“If you’re not giving your all, that’s noticed,” said Nesbitt. “The end of the group stage is the worst.
You can end it all by having a bad game,” added Elfath.
Even a correct call can earn you a ticket home.
At Qatar 2022, in Uruguay’s final group match against Ghana, Siebert denied a late penalty appeal by Edinson Cavani, which would probably have been enough to send Uruguay through.
Instead, they were eliminated. Fifa supported Siebert’s decision but sent him home because keeping him would have prolonged the controversy.
After his second match in Qatar, Vincic received an email from Fifa with his flights home.
He wondered whether the chaos of Argentina v Saudi Arabia had been a factor.
“You never know, but if you think about these things you will destroy yourself,” said Vincic.
For referees there are “three tournaments within the tournament,” Elfath said. The second begins after the group stage: the last 16 and the quarter-finals.
By this point, the hotel hallways are quieter, dinner time more subdued. Confined to the team hotel, away from family, some referees begin to feel isolated.
Referees arrive weeks before the first match to acclimatise, Nesbitt explained, and the only place you can go is the hotel or the training pitch.
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The mental toll is constant.
