On November 11th and 16th, our soccer teams will meet the Omani powerhouse in the fifth round of the 12-team tournament and the Australian powerhouse in the sixth round, respectively, on their own stadiums. As usual, the AFC has recently announced the refereeing arrangements for the two matches. It is understood that, barring any surprises, Thai referee Sivakorn Buudong and Jordanian referee Mahadmeh Adham Mohammed Touma will officiate in the two crucial matches respectively. Given that they have refereed many of our team's matches and have even been invited to China to enforce the Chinese Super League, our team has a better understanding of the style of these two referees.
It is customary for the AFC to announce the referees for each round of the tournament approximately three weeks before the start of the tournament. Although as of the evening of October 22, our team has not yet determined whether it can play these two home matches in China, but in order to ensure that the law enforcement is foolproof, the AFC has confirmed the referees for our team's home matches against Oman and Australia in advance.
The fifth round match at home against Oman will be held on November 11th. According to information assigned by the AFC, Thai referee Sivakorn Buudong will be the referee for the match, with two assistant referees, Nakkalit Rawut of Thailand and Kuya Lonnie of Singapore. The sixth round home match against Australia is scheduled for Nov. 16, and Jordanian referee Mahadmeh Adham Mohammed Touma will officiate, with two assistant referees, also from Jordan, Alroal Ahmad Moanes Nadi and Akraf Mohammed Mustafa Hassan.
As a matter of fact, both Sivakorn and Mahademeh are "familiar faces" to the soccer world in China. Sivakorn, as the "first whistle" in Thai soccer, has been to China many times to enforce the law. Our team in the second half of the 40-team tournament in Suzhou home game with Guam, is by his referee. The previous year, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) had planned to invite him to China to enforce the Chinese Super League. However, due to the epidemic, he was unable to make the trip.
The referee who enforced the second half of our team's 40-team match against the Maldives was also from Jordan, but it was not Mahadmeh, but another young referee, Ahmad Faisal Mohammad Ali.
Members of our team are more familiar with Mahademeh than Ahmad. For example, he was the referee in our home match against Iran during the last 12-team tournament, when the two teams drew 0-0. Although he was suspected of omitting a penalty kick to our team in the final moments of the match, his overall enforcement was fair. One of the most memorable players in our team was striker Wu Lei, who was invited to China on April 28, 2013 to enforce the Shanghai derby between Shenhua and Dongya in the 7th round of the Chinese Super League, where he showed Wu Lei two yellow cards, which led to Wu Lei's first red card in the Chinese Super League.
Since then, Mahademeh has enforced many matches of our national teams and club teams. For example, he has enforced the 2017 AFC Champions League 1/8 final match between Guangzhou Evergrande's home team and Japan's Kashima Antlers. The vast majority of our team's current international players have been involved in international matches enforced by him. Like Sivakorn, Mahademeh is also a popular figure in the AFC's elite refereeing circle. For example, he has refereed seven matches in the Asian zone of the World Cup in Russia, and he has refereed a number of matches in the current World Cup.
Judging from their enforcement experience, these two referees can be regarded as "old friends" in our soccer world, and they did not make any unfair judgment on our team in the course of enforcement. Of course, if our team wants to win the match, it should not be affected by the referee's factor, but should put all its effort into the match. Of course, from an operational point of view, our team will also use image data and other information to further understand the enforcement characteristics of several referees during the preparation for the match, so as to truly respect the rules and penalties, and to avoid non-combatant attrition due to refereeing problems.
