Japanese referee of the semi-final match between Vietnam and Malaysia

Information from the AFF Cup 2014 Organizing Committee said that Japanese referee Masaaki Toma will be in charge of the second leg semi-final match between Vietnam and Malaysia.

Mr. Masaaki Toma, born in 1973, is a high-class referee in Japan. In addition to refereeing matches in the J.League, referee Masaaki Toma is also among the main referees in the most prestigious continental playground for club level, the AFC Champions League.

Referee Masaaki Toma

Referee Masaaki Toma will be the main referee for the second leg of the semi-final between Vietnam and Malaysia.

In 2011, he was the first foreign referee to be honored by the English Football Association (FA) to officiate an FA Cup match between Brentford and Basingstoke Town.

The highlight of Masaaki Toma's international career was his refereeing in the friendly match between England and Mexico in 2010. At the AFF Cup 2012, he also refereed the first leg of the semi-final between Singapore and Thailand.

Masaaki Toma is no stranger to Vietnamese football. In 2009, the Japanese referee officiated the match between Vietnam and Lebanon in the 2011 Asian Cup Qualifiers (Vietnam won 3-1). In the 2014 V.League, he was also chosen to officiate the match between Binh Duong and Hanoi T&T on June 17.

In the first leg of the AFF Cup 2014 semi-final between Malaysia and Vietnam at Shah Alam Stadium on December 7, Chinese referee Ma Ning made several inaccurate decisions and overlooked many brutal fouls by the home team's players.

With the AFF Cup 2014 Organizing Committee arranging a high-class referee like Masaaki Toma to officiate the second leg of the semi-final, it is hoped that the mistakes that were unfavorable to the Vietnamese team will not be repeated at My Dinh Stadium on December 11.

According to Zing