Brian Hall, a 54-year-old American and former FIFA World Cup referee, was named on Monday as director of refereeing for the North American governing body of football.

The Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) appointed Hall to oversee and restructure officiating operations as well as improve on-field performance.

Last year's Gold Cup pointed out the troubles with the organization's referees, two controversial late penalty kicks lifting Mexico to victories that had losing coaches crying robbery, while one incident nearly flared out of control at the Mexico-Panama semi-final.

"Refereeing is one of the most critical functions for the confederation and we are confident that the department's reorganization under Brian's leadership will establish an efficient structure to continue strengthening our operations," said CONCACAF Acting general secretary Ted Howard.

During the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Hall refereed Italy's 2-0 victory over Ecuador in Sapporo and a goal-less draw between England and Nigeria at Osaka.

He spent five years as an MLS referee and served as CONCACAF's director of referees from 2010 to 2013.

"I'm eager to work alongside CONCACAF's staff and the entire refereeing community to continue building a professional refereeing department that raises the quality of refereeing for every competition across the region," Hall said. "We must also prioritize the implementation of a robust referee development program."

Two months ago, CONCACAF announced the results of its refereeing review, which included a recommendation to hire a new director of refereeing.