It was the only blemish on a memorable night in Mexico City that will go down as one of the best in the history of the national team.
The right-back curse that has plagued Thomas Tuchel and England since before a ball was kicked at the World Cup struck again when Jarrell Quansah was shown a straight red card for a high tackle.
On second thought, when you replay the video, it looked like it was a bad tackle. And the general consensus is that the red card ultimately waved by referee Alireza Faghani, who was prompted to reconsider the incident by VAR, was justified.
The suspension means Quansah will miss Saturday’s quarter-final match against Norway. However, the latest information we have is that England are considering their options regarding the future challenge of this decision.
That appears to be an extremely difficult task, as there is no direct appeal process for this World Cup.
But a precedent has already been set with a World Cup tainted by dirty politicians before, during and perhaps even after the tournament.
FIFA intervened to suspend Folarin Balogun’s one-match suspension after a VAR test also showed him a red card. This controversial call-up not only allowed the striker to play in the Round of 16 match against Belgium, but also sparked a furious backlash from almost everyone. Because Donald Trump himself, an absolute pillar of humility, has revealed that he has contacted FIFA President Gianni Infantino to discuss the review.
The US president’s intervention ultimately meant little, and the US fell into Belgium overnight.
Quansah was shown a red card.
But that opened up a huge can of worms. This could prompt the UK to take similar action against Quansar.
In real time, Faghani did not even award a free kick for Quansah’s game-ending tackle. The FA could argue, as the United States did in response to Balogun’s sacking, that they are unhappy with the use of still images and slow-motion replays in the recommendation, which violates VAR protocols.
Perhaps FIFA will give Quansah the same benefits as Balogun, which has just come under criticism from all quarters.
It remains to be seen whether England feel that is the right thing to do, especially given that Quansah has the same potential to be drawn into the potential U-turn mess as Balogun. They will probably choose against it, at least given the sense that Balogun was tough on the decision in the first place.
If the FA decide to appeal, no one will blame them for trying to appeal, and there is nothing wrong with them doing so. The real crime is the farce of the past few days that set the precedent for them to do so.
What do you think the FA should do? Let us know what you think by voting in the poll above and leaving a comment!
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