World Cup fans may get wish after England referee row | Football | Sport

FIFA has announced that Ismail Elfath will officiate England‘s World Cup semi-final against Argentina on Wednesday, much to the delight of fans watching from home. Elfath has taken charge of three games so far at the 2026 tournament, including Japan vs Netherlands, Uruguay vs Spain and Brazil vs Norway.

Elfath, 44, has overseen some action-packed games while in North America. In the last-16 clash between Brazil and Norway, he awarded two penalties to the Selecao, with Bruno Guimaraes missing the first one before Neymar scored the second late on. But there could be no arguments of any favouritism being afforded to South American nations after he sent off Agustin Canobbio in stoppage time as Marcelo Bielsa’s side were beaten by Spain in the group stage.

The American official has never refereed an England match before, although he has overseen a game involving Argentina – a goalless draw with Colombia in 2018. His assistant referees, Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins, also hail from the host country USA, while Italians Maurizio Mariani and Daniele Bindoni will complete the officials’ lineup.

In Tuesday’s semi-final between France and Spain in Arlington, Texas, Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton will be the man behind the whistle. The Salvadoran referee has taken charge of three games already at the tournament, including Turkey’s clash with Paraguay where he sent off Miguel Almiron for covering his mouth when in confrontation with Mert Muldur.

With Barton taking charge of that match and American referee Elfath taking the last-four clash between England and Argentina, it opens up the possibility of Iranian referee Alireza Faghani being appointed for the final. That’s because FIFA have tried to maintain neutrality in terms of the national allegiance of referees in place for the tournament.

Should two teams from two different confederations be playing, they have tried to ensure the referee is from another confederation. With England only able to face a fellow UEFA nation in the final between France and Spain, the chances of having Faghani in the middle may have increased.

The official list of referees remaining in the tournament are: Alireza Faghani, Adham Makhadmeh and Jalal Jayed of AFC, Ivan Barton and Ismail Elfath of CONCACAF, Jesus Valenzuela and Wilton Sampaio of CONMEBOL, and Espen Eskas, Szymon Marciniak, Maurizio Mariani, Glenn Nyberg, Joao Pinheiro and Slavko Vincic of UEFA.

Faghani won acclaim from football fans on social media for his strong handling of England’s thrilling 3-2 win over Mexico at Estadio Azteca, leading many to call for him to be awarded the final. Faghani had several huge calls to make throughout the 90 minutes and ended up awarding two penalties, as well as correctly sending off England’s Jarrell Quansah.

England boss Thomas Tuchel is unlikely to be too pleased if Faghani lines up for the final, however, as the German was furious with the VAR calls that went against his side. An angry Tuchel fumed that Faghani’s officiating was ‘not good enough’ and hinted at bias from the South American VAR officials.

EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page

“Just not good enough. The referees just aren’t good enough, fourth officials just not good enough. It’s the bottom line,” he said. “Did I see that right? Three people on the VAR from South America, a match like this? I could be wrong, if this is correct.

“VAR overturns a clear and obvious mistake for the penalty, absolutely not. VAR gets involved. He didn’t overturn a yellow into a red, he didn’t even give the foul he then overturned a decision that he didn’t give as a foul. Referees not good enough, fourth officials not good enough.”

Tuchel’s men are aiming to end 60 years of hurt by reaching their first World Cup final since 1966. Should England make it past Argentina in Wednesday’s semi-final, they will be due to play either France or Spain at the New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford on Sunday, July 19.