Switzerland were furious with the ‘one-sided refereeing’ in their World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina on Saturday.
Argentina needed extra time to secure a 3-1 win over Switzerland, who were reduced to 10 men following Breel Embolo’s controversial red card in the 72nd minute.
Embolo became the first player to be sent off as a result of a new law for mistaken identity at the World Cup this summer.
Argentina midfielder Leandro Paredes was initially given a yellow card for his challenge on Embolo as he appeared to trip the Switzerland forward. But after VAR recommended a review of the incident, Portuguese referee Joao Pinheiro changed his on-field decision and gave a second yellow card to Embolo for simulation.
Switzerland were unhappy over the application of the mistaken identity law, however, the International Football Association Board, which oversees the laws of football, issued an update before the World Cup to cover ‘mistaken identity’ situations where a player was given a yellow card but the offence was committed by the opposing player.
Speaking after his nation’s World Cup exit, Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji was unhappy with the referee’s overall performance, claiming that several fouls and dives by Argentine players ‘went unpunished’.
‘When you have the referee against you, it becomes difficult,’ Akanji said.
‘Every little thing was called against us. Every dive and every foul by the Argentinians went unpunished. I don’t usually say anything against the officials, but I’ve never experienced such a one-sided game as today.
‘As soon as the game was over, I thought: I’m so proud of our team. What we’ve achieved throughout the entire tournament, and especially today… We played against the world champions, and they didn’t stand a chance.
‘I can’t recall a single scoring opportunity from open play where we were lucky. If the game had continued 11 against 11, it would have likely gone in our favour.’
Switzerland head coach Murat Yakin said: ‘After the equaliser, we clearly had the momentum on our side. Unfortunately, this was punished by a refereeing error. The referee shouldn’t have given the Argentinian a yellow card in that situation.
‘There’s no reason for it, the incident wasn’t malicious or rough or anything like that. Then he corrects his own mistake and punishes us. That’s incomprehensible and beyond my comprehension.
‘The decision is baffling to me, there was no reason for it. It’s a shame. We missed a great opportunity, and unfortunately, the journey is over. It hurts, but we can be proud. These are my great heroes.’
Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka said: ‘It’s a huge decision that completely changes the game. It hurts a lot.
‘The rules are the rules. We can’t change them. But with this decision, he killed the game. That’s my opinion. I don’t know what else the referee could have done. But he shouldn’t have done that.’
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Earlier this week, FIFA also received an official complaint from Egypt over the officiating in their 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the last-16 on Tuesday.
Egypt were furious with the decision to rule out Zico’s goal and wanted a penalty for a foul on Mohamed Salah moments before Argentina scored from a counter-attack to win the game.
In his response to Egypt’s complaints, FIFA’s chief refereeing officer, Pierluigi Collina, hit back at allegations of bias towards Argentina.
‘Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials… equally, nobody can claim that FIFA refereeing can be influenced by anyone, not even by the FIFA president [Gianni Infantino],’ he said.
‘Match officials make honest decisions and, just like players and coaches, they always try to do their best.’
Argentina will now play England in the World Cup semi-final at 8pm BST on Wednesday.
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