Houston Chronicle · Jun 15, 2018
El Paso native 1 of 2 US referees at World Cup
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MOSCOW (AP) — Jair Marrufo remembers the first time he picked up a whistle and called a soccer match.
"My father kept saying, 'Hey, you want to be a referee?' And I'm 19 years old, and I'm like, 'No, why would I want to do that?'" he recalled.
That was an under-8 contest filled with kids trying to learn the sport. Now the 41-year-old from El Paso, Texas, will be on the field for soccer's pinnacle: the World Cup.