Peru and Chile will face each other at the AT&T Stadium today, June 21, inaugurating the participation of both countries in the Copa America 2024. This first match of Group A will be crucial as both teams look to secure a place in the quarterfinals.
The match will be held under the supervision of the experienced referee Wilton Sampaiofrom Brazil, appointed by the Conmebol. The judge will be accompanied by assistants Bruno Pires and Bruno Boschilia, also of Brazilian nationality. Edina Alves and Neuza Back will join the referee team as fourth and fifth referees, respectively.
The Conmebol has highlighted the importance of this initial match as it is considered decisive for the aspirations of both teams. Peru and Chili They are direct rivals and will seek to impose their dominance from the first minute, with the expectation of advancing in the tournament. A confrontation that promises to be very competitive. The long-awaited first victory is key to establishing a good position in the Group A table.
In the video arbitration room (VAR), the highest entity in South American football placed Rodolpho Toski and Daniel Nobre. These professionals will have the responsibility of correcting the errors of the main judge and will be supported by the Uruguayan advisor Roberto Silvera and the Ecuadorian Quality Manager Luis Vera.
In that line, Infobae Peru contacted Miguel ScimeFIFA advisor and also director of the Institute of Football Referees (IAF), to learn more details about referee Sampaio, in charge of dispensing justice in the debut of the Peruvian team in the Conmebol competition.
Scimein the first instance, pointed out that Sampaio “He is a Brazilian referee with an outstanding international career. He has been a FIFA referee since 2013 and has directed numerous important matches at both club and national team level.”
At 42 years old he has plenty of experience. His resume reflects it. He has been appointed to lead in high level competitions such as the Libertadores Cup, South American Cup, America Cup and was even part of the Qatar World Cup 2022.
The former director of AFA referees also detailed the style of the man born in Goiás. “He is known for his rigorous refereeing and for applying the rules of the game strictly and consistently. His refereeing will be preceded, in his performance, by the strategy that both teams will propose where if the physical surpasses the technical, we will be in the presence of a greater risk for the control of the match, depending on the technical characteristics of the Brazilian.”
“His greatest strength is his physical condition, he has an average movement during the 90 minutes of 11 km per game. He is an orthodox referee, where he shows a high level of disciplinary cards, making the matches with greater physical contact, his statistics only give a net playing time of 62 minutes,” he added.
Despite being an experienced referee, he has not been spared from being involved in controversies with players. The most remembered is when Lionel Messi dedicated a post to him on his Instagram after the victory of Argentina in view of Peru last October 2021.
The popular ‘Flea’ She was not happy with Sampaio’s actions and accused him of wanting to harm them. “The referee always does the same thing when he directs us, it seems like he does it on purpose”, he published after the 2022 World Cup qualifying victory.
Sampaio made Miguel Traucoplayer of the peruvian team. What happened? At 43 minutes into the Qualifiers match against Colombia, the full-back went to dispute the ball with Juan Cuadrado and accidentally hit him with his elbow. The Brazilian decided to show him the red card.
The national player went to the locker room and couldn’t hold back the tears in the tunnel of the National stadium. A member of the delegationred and white’ he had to console him. He was very affected because he left his team with one less and with the result against him.
Now, Wilton Sampaio will meet Peru again in their debut against Chile for the Copa America 2024. From Videna they hope that the 42-year-old referee will have a good performance that will help the pace and not influence the result of the match.
