The Spanish referee Antonio Mateu was already at the very end of the World Cup in Qatar, but after last night’s quarter-final between Argentina and the Netherlands, where he often lost the strings, the question remains whether he will receive FIFA’s trust when the most important trophy in world football is decided.There was a #FIFAWorldCup record 18 yellow cards dished out during Netherland’s clash with Argentina 🟨Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz booked two Argentine coaching staff, seven Oranje players (Dumfries double yellow) and eight Albicelestes players.Fiery contest… #OptusSport pic.twitter.com/P2KIqfGxsc— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) December 10, 2022 Although they are celebrating their place in the semi-finals, where they will face Croatia, the Argentinians were particularly jealous of the Spaniard. One of the people who openly criticized the referee was none other than the Argentinian captain. “This match shouldn’t have ended as it did. We were afraid before the match because we knew how he was and I think FIFA has to review this, you can’t put a referee like him for these matches. I don’t want to talk about the referee because you can’t be honest. If you talk they sanction you, FIFA must think about it, they can’t put a referee who isn’t up to the task” said Messi after the game. Messi you’ve never seen before: ‘What are you looking at? Fool!’Above other things, Antonio Mateu handed an astonishing 15 cards to all players who participated in the match, the most in World Cup history, overtaking Cameroon’s clash with Germany in 2002, in which there were 12 yellows and two reds.”I thought we controlled the game really well, we went 2-0 up and the ref was giving everything for them. They get a good header, and then it turned upside down, the ref gave 10 minutes for no reason. He just wanted them to score, that was basically it, so hopefully we don’t have that ref anymore, he is useless” said another hero of the match, former Arsenal keeper Emiliano Martinez. Just like tango! Back and forth, push and pull as Argentina power through to the semi-finalsDue to all that happened during the match, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has opened proceedings against the Argentine Football Association. FIFA will be investigating possible breaches of articles 12 (Misconduct of players and officials) and 16 (Order and security at matches) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code during the game that took place on Friday night. Dutch Football Association are also under proceedings, and also for possible breaches of article 12. ##NAJAVA_MECA_6877797##
