ATLANTA -- American referee Ismail Elfath has been appointed to take charge of Wednesday's FIFA World Cup semifinal between England and Argentina at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Elfath, 44, has already officiated three games at the tournament -- Japan vs. Netherlands, Uruguay vs. Spain and Brazil vs. Norway -- and has issued six yellow cards and one red, to Uruguay's AgustÃn Canobbio.
The appointment of Elfath, who will be assisted by fellow Americans Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins, makes him the second Concacaf official to be given a semifinal following the announcement of El Salvadorean referee Ivan Barton to the France-Spain clash in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday.
England and Argentina will meet for the first time since 2005 when they play on Wednesday and the game will be their first World Cup encounter since the 2002 World Cup.
Previous games between the two countries have been marred by controversy, including Diego Maradona's Hand of God goal in 1986 and David Beckham's red card for a foul on Diego Simeone in 1998.
Argentina's run to the semifinals during this tournament has also been accompanied by a series of high-profile refereeing and VAR decisions including Lionel Messi avoiding a red card for a foul on Algeria's Aïssa Mandi during the defending champions' opening game of this World Cup.
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan claiming his team had been the victim of an "injustice" following VAR intervention to rule out a goal for his side in a 3-2 round-of-16 defeat.
In Argentina's quarterfinal, VAR intervened to overturn a card against Leandro Paredes and instead issue it to Switzerland's Breel Embolo, as the defending champions went on to win 3-1 in extra time.
