Ismail Elfath: Messi's lucky charm? He will referee England vs Argentina semi-final

Ismail Elfath, who has twice officiated matches where Lionel Messi won trophies, will referee the World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina. The 44-year-old has taken charge of group games between Japan and the Netherlands, and Uruguay versus Spain at this tournament, as well as Norway's last-16 victory over five-time winners Brazil. He has issued six yellow cards and sent off Uruguay midfielder Agustin Canobbio for a high challenge on Spain defender Pau Cubarsi, after which Canobbio confronted the referee and grabbed his shirt. The match in Atlanta on Wednesday (20:00 BST) will be shown live on BBC One. Elfath's fellow Americans Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins will be assistant referees, while Italian Maurizio Mariani is the fourth official. Elfath was the fourth official for Argentina's 2022 World Cup final win over France and was the referee when Messi won his first trophy for Inter Miami – a penalty shootout win against Nashville SC in the 2023 Leagues Cup final. He has officiated in Major League Soccer since 2012 and has twice won MLS referee of the year. Originally from Morocco, Elfath moved to America as an 18-year-old after winning a US government-backed diversity visa lottery. Meanwhile, England's Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor have been ruled out of contention to referee the World Cup final because of FIFA regulations around conflict of interest. Referees cannot take charge of matches involving their own country, but English and Argentine officials also cannot referee games involving the two nations because of their political rivalry, in part because of the Falklands conflict in 1982. Argentine referee Facundo Tello is out of contention for the same reason, with all three officials also ineligible for the third-place play-off as it is guaranteed to involve one of the teams. The regulations also ruled Taylor out of refereeing the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France.