England booked a match against Norway in the World Cup quarter-finals after beating Mexico at the Azteca, but manager Thomas Tuchel was not completely satisfied after the match
Thomas Tuchel (Image: BBC Sport)
Manager Thomas Tuchel has second-guessed match officials after being penalized twice for VAR intervention in England’s thrilling 3-2 win over Mexico.
The Three Lions kept their World Cup hopes alive with a memorable victory for the Aztecs, thanks to two goals from Jude Bellingham and a penalty from Harry Kane, enough to send off the competition’s co-hosts. They held the numerical advantage for much of the second half after Jarrell Quansah was sent off for a bad tackle.
Quansah was given his marching orders following VAR intervention by referee Alireza Faghani, who initially did not even award a penalty to the young defender.
He also awarded Mexico a penalty after being sent off by VAR to a pitchside monitor for an infringement inside England’s penalty area, giving England a tense final game.
However, Tuchel was unhappy with both VAR decisions and slammed the referee and support team in a post-match interview with BBC Sport.
When asked about the referees, Tuchel said: “It’s just not enough. There aren’t enough referees, there aren’t enough fourth officials. That’s the main thing.”
“Did I see it right? Three people from South America went to VAR, a game like this? If this is right, I could be wrong… VAR overturns obvious mistakes in penalties, absolutely not. VAR is involved. He didn’t overturn a yellow for a red, he didn’t even give a foul and then overturned a decision that he didn’t give as a foul.”
“We don’t have enough referees, we don’t have enough fourth umpires.”
Harry Kane argues with referee Alireza Faghani (Image: (Richard Pelham/Getty Images))
Tuchel, answering another question, targeted Faghani again in added time towards the end of the second half as England battled for a big win.
“Everyone won a crazy football game in a crazy atmosphere,” he said. “We did not give up against all the adversity and even in the game, at the end in the 11th minute, he gave us two corner kicks and in the 12th minute… no, everything was against us. We did not give up.”
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