Man, what do you know! Pierluigi Collina, that bald guy with the bulging eyes, announced the first four referees for the Round of 16 of the World Cup. And guess who's not among them? Exactly, Istvan Kovacs, our only representative. He's left on the sidelines, even though he's Romanian and has refereed European finals. Come on, be serious!

Now, let's get down to business. Collina picked four big shots: Ilgiz Tantashev from Uzbekistan, who'll whistle Paraguay - France; Michael Oliver, the Englishman, for Canada - Morocco; Ismail Elfath, the American, for Brazil - Norway; and Alireza Faghani, the Iranian with Australian citizenship, for Mexico - England. To me, it looks like a mix of all nations, but our Romanian, nothing.

Kovacs, the man from Carei, hasn't whistled in two weeks. Last time was at Jordan - Argentina, score 1-3. Before that, he had whistled Tunisia - Japan 0-4, the 1000th match in World Cup history. He had some assistants there, Mihai Marica and Ferencz Tunyogi, who backed him up in both games. Good lads, those.

Now, the money part. Kovacs has already pocketed $100,000 just for being on the referees list. Plus $6,000 for the two group stage matches. In the Round of 16, main referees get $10,000 per match. If he doesn't whistle, he won't see that cash either. Is it a sign? Maybe he doesn't have the connections...

But let's not cry for him just yet. He still has chances for the next Round of 16 matches: Portugal - Spain, USA - Belgium, Argentina - Egypt, or Switzerland - Colombia. If they put him on a big game, he might grab some extra dough. Until then, he's the only referee in history to have whistled the final of all three European competitions: Champions, Europa League, and Conference. That's an achievement, no joke.

To me, it seems FIFA doesn't really care about CVs. Kovacs has trophies, experience, but maybe he's not 'international' enough for Collina. Or maybe he's being saved for bigger stages, like quarterfinals or semifinals. Who knows?

In the end, let's be optimistic. Maybe our Romanian will whistle an important match. And if not, at least we have something to complain about over a beer at Fane's terrace. Come on, it's summer anyway!