Worst World Cup referees. Officials under fire for series of shocking failures

By Andrew Warshaw

December 12 - Referees are invariably castigated at various stages of major competitions. It goes with the territory.

But there is a general consensus that rarely, if ever, have officials been as inconsistent as in Qatar - the exact opposite of what FIFA set out to aim for. Combined with a series of questionable VAR decisions despite the much-heralded semi-automated offside system.

Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio was accused of putting on a "horrible, horrific game" by England defender Harry Maguire as his side were beaten 2-1 by France in the quarter-finals.

"I can't really explain his performance - the amount of decisions he made was actually unbelievable," said the Manchester United defender.

Despite awarding England two penalties, Sampaio was heavily criticized by fans, pundits and players.

There are legitimate questions as to whether France's opening goal should have stood after a clear foul on Bukayo Saka in the build-up. It was a pivotal moment and the kind of luck France capitalized on and contributed to England's exit.

Former English Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher says Sampaio is not good enough to face such a crucial encounter.

Gallagher, who appears regularly on Sky, commented:"I don't think there is any doubt that there is a fault (on Saka), you can see that it's a foul. If the referee can't see it, the assistant has perfect sight, he looks straight in the eye and is very, very close. If the assistant had signaled, everyone would have accepted this decision ."

Even for the late penalty Harry Kane blasted over, Sampaio had to go to the monitor even though the blatant barge on the initially overlooked Mason Mount was clear to all - except the man in the middle who also arguably missed at least one more stonewall spotkick.

On Sampaio's overall performance, Gallagher added, "Whether nervous or given the opportunity, he certainly didn't perform the way one would expect a referee of this level performs. It was not the level of a referee in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. We cannot say that he was not at this level but I would say that he did not produce this day. For the full 90 minutes, he didn't reflect that level. The problems stemmed from decisions he didn't make rather than those he did."

England, of course, have not been the only victims of dodgy refereeing and with three games to go there are growing fears that whoever lifts the trophy will end up doing so thanks to a good dose of suspicious arbitration.

Spanish official Antonio Mateu Lahoz, for his part, has already been sent off after handing out a record 18 yellow cards in the fiery round of 16 match between Argentina and the Netherlands.

In what was a moody clash, Dutch defender Denzel Dumfries received his marching orders after the game was already over while Wout Weghorst received a caution before even entering the pitch.

Although Argentina emerged victorious, even Lionel Messi couldn't contain himself.

"This game shouldn't have ended the way it did," he told Argentine television. "We were scared before the match because we knew how he was doing and I think FIFA needs to review that. You can't put a referee like him in for these matches."

The Argentine hero of the shootout, Emiliano Martinez, went further.

"The referee gave them [Netherlands] everything," said the Aston Villa keeper. “He gave 10 minutes of extra time for no reason. He just wanted them to score. This referee is crazy. Arrogant.

"Because Spain were eliminated, he wanted to eliminate us. He is the worst referee in the World Cup. I hope we don't have him anymore - he is useless."

Veteran Portuguese defender Pepe, on the other hand, questioned the appointment of an Argentine referee to handle their shock quarter-final loss to Morocco and claimed that FIFA officials "can now give the title to Argentina".

"It was unacceptable that an Argentinian referee was refereeing our game," said Pepe. "We weren't allowed to play the second half."

Pepe questioned the decision to play just eight minutes of added time and said: "I can bet Argentina will be champions."

He might be right.

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