Mauricio Espinosa Rodríguez (born 6 May 1972)
FIFA, 2010. is an

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an football referee who participated in the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. He gained publicity during the Round of 16 match between

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, when he ruled that England midfielder

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...

's strike did not cross the goal line, although

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

coverage clearly indicated the opposite.

Personal

Mauricio Espinosa was born on 6 May 1972 and lives in the

an capital Montevideo. He is also a science

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, he speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. Espinosa has been refereeing international matches since 2006.

2010 FIFA World Cup

Espinosa was an assistant referee in the following

matches: *Group D: Australia vs Serbia *Group E: Cameroon vs Denmark *Group G: Côte d'Ivoire vs Portugal *Round of 16: Germany vs England In each of these matches, the main referee was

Jorge Larrionda Jorge Luis Larrionda Pietrafesa (born 9 March 1968) is a retired FIFA football referee from Uruguay who has officiated at international matches since 1998. He officiated at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he took charge of four matches, including ...

, who is also from

Germany vs. England controversy

The Germany vs. England Round of 16 match, which ended 4-1 and where Espinosa was an assistant referee, resulted in controversial decisions and massive media attention. The main referee of the match was

. Early in the game, Espinosa ruled that

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while ...

was offside, when in reality Rooney picked up an erroneous pass from a German player, and therefore could not have been offside according to the rules. Espinosa's most controversial decision occurred in the 38th minute, when Germany was leading 2-1, as England's

shot hit the crossbar, bounced over the goal line and back out of the goal. Television pictures and video replay showed that the ball clearly crossed the line, but both Espinosa and Larrionda failed to spot this, despite appearing to have a good view of where the ball had landed. In the referees' dressing room during the half-time interval, Larrionda and Espinosa were shown the TV coverage of the incident. After noticing his mistake, Espinosa was said to have exclaimed "Oh my God!". The incident led to large-scale protests from players, coaches and officials alike, as well as increased demands for FIFA to introduce goal-line video technology in matches. Espinosa and Larrionda were among referees dropped by FIFA after the Round of 16. They did not participate in any further matches in the 2010 World Cup.

2018 FIFA World Cup

In March 2018, FIFA announced that he will officiate some matches at side of Andres Cunha and Nicolas Taran as assistant referee at 2018 FIFA World Cup. On 10 July 2018, He officiated the

semifinal A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espinosa, Mauricio 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Montevideo Uruguayan football referees 2018 FIFA World Cup referees