FIFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina has broken his silence and firmly defended their stand on the controversial FIFA World Cup Round-of-16 clash between Argentina and Egypt. Collina has rejected the allegations that match referees favoured two-time World Cup winners Argentina after Egypt blamed match referee Francois Letexier for committing errors. Egypt has also demanded the removal of Letexier from the rest of the tournament.
The Egypt Football Association (EFA) lodged a complaint to FIFA, saying that the referee’s decisions were in favour of Argentina. They also asked FIFA for explanations for the refereeing decisions of Letexier.
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Collina rejects bias allegations, defends match officials’ integrity
Collina defended the match referees by giving the logic of multiple matches played per day in a very short period of time,ime along with acknowledging the fact that refereeing decisions would always be at the centre of any debate. “With such a high number of matches played in a relatively short period of time, it is quite normal that some things will not go as expected. In such conditions, referees are ready to work even harder to ensure that they are totally prepared for the next game,” Collina said.
“Of course, constructive discussion about decisions will always be part of football, but unfounded allegations have no place in our sport. No one can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials,n or can anybody claim that FIFA refereeing can be influenced by anyone, not even by the FIFA President,” he added.
Collina defended the integrity of match referees. “Match officials make honest decisions and, just like players and coaches, they always try to do their best,” he said in this regard.
Collina did not forget to praise FIFA president Gianni Infantino while speaking to the media. “He [Infantino] has always shown his full support for FIFA Team One while trusting us to work with complete independence,” he said.
Defending the referee’s decision, Collina insisted that VAR maintained every footballing protocol “We believe that a foul is a foul. Regardless of whether the foul appears ‘obvious’, if the referee did not see it on the field of play, the VAR can intervene,” he said.
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Collina defends VAR decision saying Salah’s penalty appeal was ‘normal football contact’
The moment of controversy actually sparked when Egypt protested the match officials’ decision for not reviewing a potential penalty just moments before Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez scored the winning goal (third goal) for his team, with Egypt skipper Mohamed Salah going down inside the box following a challenge from Argentina striker Julian Alvarez. Collina labelled it as “normal football contact”.
“After every goal is scored, the VAR checks the attacking possession phase. If a foul is marked in the build-up and is deemed to have had an impact on the goal, the VAR will recommend an on-field review. There is no defined limit regarding either the distance from goal or the amount of time between the incident and the goal. So, stepping on an opponent’s foot is a foul, whereas a defender who touches the ball first and then makes normal football contact has not committed a foul,” he said.
Previously, after the match on Tuesday, Egypt coach Hossam Hassan alleged that there might have been some pressure on the match referee to keep Argentina competing in the tournament, as they were 2-0 down to Egypt. He also alleged that Egypt were “cheated out” of the tournament.
