FIFA face calls to suspend referee after France vs Paraguay ‘disgrace’ | Football | Sport
FIFA are facing demands to suspend referee Ilgiz Tantashev after he failed to caution a single Paraguay player during their heated defeat to France. World Cup supporters were left incensed by his display, with Tantashev being accused of showing ‘no interest’ in enforcing the laws of the game or safeguarding players.
France players emerged without any significant injuries but were subjected to heavy targeting as Paraguay employed robust tactics, with forceful challenges coming in consistently. There were also multiple flashpoints throughout the encounter, which concluded in unpleasant scenes as both sides clashed following Paraguay’s frustration at being eliminated from the tournament.
BBC pundits Joe Hart and Thomas Hitzlsperger did not mince their words as they condemned Paraguay’s conduct, labelling them a ‘disgrace’. Despite committing 12 fouls, referee Tantashev, who has held FIFA-listed status for 13 years, showed no yellow cards to the South American outfit during the 90 minutes.
Three French players were, however, cautioned during the fixture. World Cup fans flocked to social media in considerable numbers to criticise the Uzbek official for failing to maintain control of proceedings, with many describing him as ‘incompetent’ and demanding a suspension.
“Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev with an extraordinary performance. No interest in refereeing, no interest in applying the laws of the game, no interest in player welfare or well-being. France very fortunate to avoid serious injuries,” one fan wrote. Another commented: “That was one of the worst referee performances I have ever seen at any level,” while a third remarked: “Not one yellow card for Paraguay [laughing face emoji]. Shocking performance from the ref.”
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Others demanded FIFA step in. “Ilgiz Tantashev needs a red card and suspended for the rest of the World Cup. How can he seriously not think Paraguay deserved a booking?” one wrote.
A second posted: “Ilgiz Tantashev and the VAR officials on duty should be suspended. That was the worst officiating I’ve seen in this World Cup,” while a third declared: “Shame on you, Referee Ilgiz Tantashev. Why allow an incompetent referee to officiate football at this level?”.
France claimed a 1-0 victory courtesy of a 70th-minute penalty from Kylian Mbappe, setting up a quarter-final clash with Morocco, yet it was Paraguay who dominated the post-match conversation. Former Premier League star Hitzlsperger admitted he had lost respect for the Paraguay side following the game, while Hart was left appalled and launched a scathing attack on them.
Paraguay players clashed with Mbappe on numerous occasions, with the 27-year-old, who is now joint top scorer at the tournament alongside Lionel Messi on seven goals, even refusing to shake hands with goalkeeper Orlando Gill at full-time, who in turn hurled the ball at him in a moment of sheer frustration. Hart defended France’s talisman’s conduct on the BBC after he largely succeeded in maintaining his composure, while also criticising the match official.
He said: “I absolutely love how [Mbappe] he’s behaved in this game, because they have come for him from minute one,” he said. “And towards the end when he was just laughing at the Paraguayan players, that is… He’s allowed to be arrogant because he is brilliant, but the Paraguayan players were an absolute disgrace tonight.
“If they were on my team I’d be dragging half of them off the pitch. I would never want to win that way, I would never want to play football that way and the referee didn’t help in any of the circumstances.
“The fact that not one Paraguayan was booked inside the 90 minutes today is absolutely astonishing. Fair play to France, you can see what it means. Sometimes you can play beautiful football, pass people off the park – but when you grind out a win as a team and get that win as they did tonight? Superb.”
Meanwhile, Thierry Henry maintained it was a ‘victory for football’ following France’s progression. “Football won,” the 1998 World Cup winner declared. “I don’t want to talk about Paraguay. I want to talk about what France did. How they stayed composed. How Kylian Mbappe was laughing at the end. How a lot of the players didn’t react to the provocation, although they finished – I think we took three yellow cards, and one at the end for Paraguay.
“But at the end of the day, that’s the World Cup, that’s how it is. It’s not always going to be easy. But well done, they stayed calm, it was very difficult, but like I said, football won.”
