The decisions of the referees in football sometimes change the outcome of the matches, and one of the two sides of the meeting often comes out with objections to it, and despite all the technologies recently introduced by FIFA, some decisions are still being taken and not the last of which happened during the meeting between Morocco and France, on Wednesday.
The Moroccan Federation (Royal Moroccan Football Federation) protested “strongly once morest the arbitration of the Moroccan national team’s match once morest the French national team, led by Cesar Arturo Ramos Palazuelos.”
Union said in statement on its official website The protest was made through “a letter to the competent authority, which included the arbitration cases that deprived the Moroccan team of two clear penalties, according to the testimony of the specialists in arbitration. I was surprised at the same time that the mouse room (video assistant referee) was not alerted to that.”
The Moroccan federation’s complaint once morest the Mexican referee, Cesar Ramos, was preceded by accusations of condoning two penalty kicks, by international players and football fans, and criticism continued for the referee of the Morocco-France match that ended with the victory of the French team in the semi-finals of the Qatar World Cup, on Wednesday, because of what was said to be a penalty kick. “Not counted” in favor of the Atlas Lions.
Andprominent players wondered And users of communication sites regarding the reason behind not counting a penalty kick when the French national team player, Theo Hernandez, blocked the way for the Moroccan player, Sofiane Boufal.
But the question remains regarding the feasibility and results of the Moroccan Federation’s complaint, and what can change following that?
Administrative error
In this regard, Ayman Al-Rifai, a specialist in governance and sports law, confirms that the match between Morocco and France will not be repeated.
He added in his interview with Al-Hurra that, “Of course, the match will not be repeated, and according to the laws of the game and administrative laws, if the error is related to the referee, the match will not be repeated.”
He points out that the Moroccan national team’s complaint comes within the framework of “recording a special situation, for example, the referee (Ramos) may be excluded from managing subsequent matches, or that there is more focus on selecting referees in the upcoming matches.”
In its statement, the Moroccan Federation confirmed that it submitted its protest through a “letter to the competent authority.” To clarify who this body is, Al-Rifai said, “Usually, it is the Competitions Committee of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), because this issue (complaint) pertains to the competition, and the Competitions Committee refers it to it.” The competent authorities as well, including the arbitration committee
Formal complaint
Commenting on the Moroccan national team’s complaint, the head of the Moroccan Sports Journalists’ Union, Abdel Hadi El Naji, says that this complaint is a “formalism”.
Al-Naji said in his interview with Al-Hurra that the Moroccan national team may have “fell into the same problem in the 2018 tournament and was subjected to arbitration injustice in the matches with Spain and Portugal (…)”.
He added, “Even those who do not understand the simplest football alphabet will notice that the French team stole this victory, and the national team was grossly wronged.”
Al-Naji ruled out that “the Moroccan complaint would change anything, and the situation will remain as it is, and if there had been a decision, for example, to restart the match, it would have happened at the time.”
The Spaniard, Iker Casillas, the former Real Madrid goalkeeper, asked in a post on Twitter following the end of the match: “This step is worth knowing, yes or no. Is it a penalty kick?”, Accompanying a picture of the French national team player, Theo Hernandez, as he blocked the Moroccan player, Sufyan Boufal.
This move is worthy of opinion. Yes or no is it a penalty? ???? pic.twitter.com/k02Zl223l6
— Iker Casillas (@IkerCasillas) December 15, 2022
Boufal received a yellow card by the referee in the 27th minute, while no foul was counted once morest Hernandez, who intervened forcefully to cut the ball from Boufal in the penalty area, and therefore any potential penalty kick might have changed the course of the entire game, especially since France was ahead. With a single goal scored within the first five minutes.
The Moroccan Football Association affirmed that it “will not hesitate to defend the rights of” the national team, and called for “fairness in taking the necessary measures regarding the arbitral injustice that was inflicted on the Moroccan national team in its match once morest the French national team.”
And the coach of the Moroccan national team, Walid Regragui, admitted that playing the third-place match for the Qatar 2022 World Cup once morest Croatia, on Saturday, is “the worst match we can play” because the ambition was to be in the final.
Morocco wished to culminate its historic career in the World Cup in Qatar by reaching the final, but the adventure ended at the round of four, losing to defending champion France 0-2, according to Agence France-Presse.
Insaf Boufal
AndRarakaki touched To talk regarding the Moroccan Federation’s protest once morest the referee of the France match in the semi-finals, saying: “A good gesture, although it will not change the result, but at least to do justice to Sofiane Boufal and avoid the yellow card he received. It is true that there was a penalty kick, but the result will not change now.”
“We deserved at least one penalty once morest France, but this is football and we have to adapt to the situation,” he added.
similar errors
Returning to arbitration errors, they usually occur in several matches, and in this regard, Al-Rifai says, “To be honest, FIFA has not prepared many matches, but if there is a technical error that really affects the match, the match is replayed (…) and the Morocco match is repeated.” France is almost impossible.
For his part, Al-Naji says, “In the history of football, in the history of FIFA, and in the history of the World Cup, there was no replay of any meeting, despite the fatal mistakes, and we all remember the goal that Maradona scored with his hand in 1986, when the Argentine national team won the World Cup and it was a very big scandal.”
