How Africa
FIFA has strongly reprimanded the comments of the Argentinean Diego Maradona that the victory of England over Colombia was a “monumental flight” and that referee Mark Geiger was not up to par.
” Following the comments of Diego Armando Maradona … FIFA strongly condemns criticism of the performance of match officials it considers as positive in a difficult and very emotional game,” said the world governing body of soccer in a statement.
FIFA said it was “doing everything in its power to ensure that the principles of fair play, integrity and respect are at the forefront of this World Cup and the current management of the organization “ .
In this context, FIFA stated that it was “sorry to read such statements from a player who wrote the history of our sport. The additional comments and insinuations are totally unfounded and inappropriate. “
England qualified for the quarterfinals in penalty shootouts after 120 minutes of scuffles, protests against arbitration decisions, and injury simulations.
However Maradona apologized on Thursday.
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“Taken by the excitement and support for Colombia the other day, I said some things that, I admit, are unacceptable,” said the “Pibe de Oro” on his Instagram account.
“My apologies to Fifa and its president (Gianni Infantino, ed): although I sometimes have opinions contrary to those of the referees, I have absolute respect for the work – not easy – that the institution and the referees, “he continued.
Referee Mark Geiger was suspended six months of international matches in 2015 after a controversial Copa America semi-final decision between Panama and Mexico. This time he gave a perfectly justified penalty for a foul by Carlos Sanchez, which allowed Harry Kane and England to open the scoring.
