FIFA is facing a request to suspend referee Ilgiz Tantashev after he failed to warn a Paraguayan player during the heated match against France. World Cup supporters were outraged by his behavior, with Tantashev accused of having “no interest” in enforcing the rules of the game or protecting players.
Although France’s players played without any major injuries, they were exposed to heavy attacks as Paraguay adopted solid tactics, and their powerful attacks were constant. There were also multiple flashpoints in the match, which ended in unpleasant scenes as both teams clashed following Paraguay’s dissatisfaction with their elimination from the tournament.
BBC pundits Joe Hart and Thomas Hitzlsperger minced no words in condemning Paraguay’s actions, labeling them “disgraceful”. Despite committing 12 fouls, referee Tantashev, who has held FIFA-sanctioned status for 13 years, did not issue a single yellow card to the South American team throughout the entire 90 minutes.
However, three French players were cautioned during the match. World Cup fans took to social media in significant numbers to criticize the Uzbekistan international’s failure to maintain control of the match, with many describing him as “incompetent” and calling for him to be suspended.
One fan wrote: “Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev gave an extraordinary performance. He has no interest in refereeing, he has no interest in applying the laws of the game, he has no interest in the well-being and well-being of the players. France were very lucky not to be seriously injured.” Another said: “That was the worst performance I’ve ever seen from a referee at any level,” while another said: “Paraguay didn’t get a single yellow card (laughing face emoji). Shocking performance from the referee.”
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“Ilgiz Tantashev needs a red card and a suspension for the rest of the World Cup. Why can’t he seriously think that Paraguay doesn’t deserve a warning?” one asked for FIFA’s intervention. someone wrote.
A second posted: “Ilgiz Tantashev and the VAR official on duty should be suspended. That was the worst refereeing I’ve seen at this World Cup,” while a third declared: “Shame on you, referee Ilgiz Tantashev. Why would you entrust this level of football to an incompetent referee?”
Kylian Mbappé’s penalty in the 70th minute gave France a 1-0 victory, setting them up to face Morocco in the quarter-finals, but it was Paraguay who dominated the conversation after the match. Former Premier League star Hitzlsperger admitted after the match that he had lost respect for the Paraguayan side, but Hart was left stunned and launched a scathing attack on the Paraguayan side.
Paraguay’s players clashed with Mbappé on a number of occasions, with the 27-year-old, who is currently tied with Lionel Messi as the tournament’s top scorer with seven goals, refusing to shake the hand of goalkeeper Orlando Gil at full-time, who in a moment of sheer frustration threw the ball at Mbappé. After largely managing to maintain his composure, Hart defended the French talisman’s actions on the BBC, while criticizing the match officials.
“I really like the way[Mbappe]behaved in this game, because they were targeting him from the beginning,” he said. “And towards the end he was just laughing at the Paraguayan players, but I mean… he’s allowed to be arrogant because he’s good, but the Paraguayan players tonight were an absolute disgrace.
“If they were in my team, I would have dragged half of them off the pitch. I never want to win like that, I never want to play football like that, and the referee didn’t help me in any situation.
“The fact that we didn’t have a single Paraguayan player booked for 90 minutes today is really surprising. Fair play for France, you know what that means. Sometimes you play beautiful football and knock people out of the park, but when you win as a team and get that win like we did tonight? That’s great.”
Meanwhile, Thierry Henry claimed it was a “football victory” following France’s breakthrough. “Soccer has won,” declared the 1998 World Cup winner. “I don’t want to talk about Paraguay. I want to talk about what France did. How they kept their cool, how Kylian Mbappé was laughing at the end, how many players did not respond to provocations even though they finished the game – I think for Paraguay we got three yellow cards and one at the end.”
“But at the end of the day, that’s the World Cup and that’s what it is. It’s not always easy. But well done, they stayed calm, it was very difficult, but like I said, football won.”
