Surely a heavy piece of news. The Angolese referee Helder Martins de Carvalho, who participated in the FIFA Under 17 World Cup in Mexico 2011 and who joined the prospective list of referees for WC 2014, has been withdrawn from the list.
"Helder Martins was our flagship of arbitration for CAF and FIFA. It's a great and unexpected removal from our official reference. We are sad. "said Carvalho Neto, president of the Central Commission of Referees."
The reasons behind this relegation are pretty obvious, even though everything is speculation.
One explanation for this disconnect may be the controversial match between Cameroon and Senegal, qualifying for the CAN 2012, last June, which ended tied at zero and with two expulsions of Senegalese players and their coach Amara Traore. Even the Senegalese prime minister accused Martins for breach of neutrality. (see this video..)
Just one year earlier, Martins was suspended by CAF for several months due to rumours saying that he was not neutral in his CAN 2010 match between Nigeria and Benin.
Along with his countryman Inacio Manuel Candido he was said and expected to be one of the most potential candidates for WC 2014.
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