According to reports from RMC Sport, England manager Thomas Tuchel expressed deep frustration with the officiating standard despite his team overcoming a hostile atmosphere and a red card to secure a 3-2 victory over Mexico. The German tactician took aim at Australian referee Alireza Faghani and the video assistant referees for several controversial decisions during the high-stakes World Cup knockout match in Mexico City.
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Subscribe Sekarang →Tuchel was particularly incensed by the decision to award Mexico a second-half penalty for a challenge by Harry Kane, which the central referee initially chose not to penalize. The video assistant referee team intervened to reverse the decision on the field, mirroring an earlier 54th-minute intervention that saw English defender Jarell Quansah sent off. "The referees are not good enough, the fourth officials either. That is the observation," the former PSG manager stated bluntly during his post-match press conference.
From editorial monitoring of the official tournament appointments, the video assistant referee panel consisted of Colombian official Nicolás Gallo, assisted by Juan Lara of Chile and Juan Soto of Venezuela. Tuchel openly questioned the geographic selection of the crew for a match involving a North American team, asking, "Did I see correctly? Three South Americans in the VAR room for a match like this? I might be wrong, but if that is the case... Did the VAR intervene to correct a clear and obvious error regarding the penalty? Absolutely not."
Based on the manager's post-match comments, his grievances extended to the management of extra time at the end of the encounter. Tuchel accused the refereeing crew of extending play unnecessarily to give the co-hosts an advantage, noting that despite 11 minutes of added time being indicated, the referee allowed subsequent corner kicks that stretched the game into a 12th minute.
In concluding observations from the emotional aftermath of the match, Tuchel praised his squad's resilience for overcoming what he perceived as systemic structural disadvantages. "Everyone won a crazy football match in a crazy atmosphere," Tuchel remarked. "We defied all the odds. Everything played against us, but we did not give in."