Canadian referee Drew Fischer has been assigned to officiate the World Cup round of 32 match between Argentina and Cape Verde at Miami Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. local time, FIFA confirmed.
Fischer, 45, born in Calgary, has extensive experience in North American football. He has officiated 229 Major League Soccer matches and has been an international referee since 2015.
He has refereed one previous Argentina match — a friendly in Philadelphia before the 2024 Copa America, in which Angel Di Maria’s goal secured a 1-0 win over Ecuador. Argentina went on to win that tournament.
Fischer was also the referee when Inter Miami, led by Lionel Messi, beat Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 to clinch their first league title.
However, a 2023 incident left a mark on his career. During a CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal between Mexico and Honduras, Fischer was in the VAR booth and instructed the on-field referee, Salvadoran Ivan Barton, to add 11 minutes of stoppage time. Barton later said: “The Canadian referee in the VAR booth called me and said I had to add 9 minutes and 40 seconds. But I decided on nine minutes. After nine minutes were up, VAR called me again and said I had to add two more minutes.”
In the 10th minute of stoppage time, Mexico scored an equalizer and went on to win on a tiebreaker. The controversy subsided days later when Fischer was also assigned to the final between Mexico and the United States, which the US won 2-0.
In this World Cup, Fischer has officiated two matches: France’s 3-0 win over Iraq and Croatia’s 2-1 victory over Ghana.
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