Original title: Cairo national team advanced to the opening match of the Club World Cup
Xinhua News Agency, Rabat, February 1. In the opening match of the 2022 Morocco World Cup on February 1, the Cairo Nationals of Egypt defeated the New Zealand team Auckland City 3-0 to advance to the second round.
Chinese referee Ma Ning is the head referee, Zhou Fei and Zhang Cheng are the assistant referees, and Fu Ming is the assistant video assistant referee (AVAR) to enforce the game. This is the first time that a referee team from China has enforced this top FIFA event, making history.
The Cairo Nationals dominated the game, and Shahat scored in stoppage time in the first half to help the team break the deadlock. In the second half, Sharif and Tau scored a goal in the 56th and 86th minutes respectively, and the Cairo Nationals won 3:0.
During stoppage time in the second half, Oakland City’s Mitchell made a serious foul at the front of the penalty area and destroyed the opponent’s obvious scoring opportunity. The referee Ma Ning sent him off with a red card following watching the VAR replay.
This year’s Club World Cup FIFA experimented with new rules, requiring the referee to announce the reason for the penalty to the audience through a microphone following watching the VAR replay, in order to increase the transparency of the referee’s law enforcement. Ma Ning’s penalty is also the first application of this new rule in a FIFA match.
The Cairo Nationals will face the Seattle Sounders of the United States on February 5.
