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    An ex-referee discloses huge mistake officials made in England’s World Cup loss

    Emma TeeBy No Comments3 Mins Read

    • Former referee claims that officials committed a serious error that led to England losing the World Cup.

    An ex-referee discloses huge mistake officials made in England’s World Cup loss
    An ex-referee discloses huge mistake officials made in England’s World Cup loss

    Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher admits World Cup official Wilton Pereira Sampaio ‘did not execute to the standard you would anticipate’ in England’s quarter-final loss to France.

    England’s bid to win their first World Cup since 1966 ended on Saturday as defending champions France clinched a 2-1 victory at the Al Bayt Stadium.

    After being given the chance to break even though Bukayo Saka had been fouled, France took the lead through Tchouameni on the minute mark.

    Harry Kane’s penalty equalized Wayne Rooney’s 53-goal record for England after the break, but Olivier Giroud restored France’s lead with 12 minutes remaining.

    When England was awarded a late penalty, it looked as though the quarterfinal match would go to extra time, but Kane missed his attempt.

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    The English team members complained about referee Sampaio during the match and have subsequently called his performance “a joke.”

    Ex-referee Gallagher agrees that Sampaio ‘didn’t produce on the day’ and says not awarding England a free-kick for the foul on Saka before France’s opener was a mistake.

    ‘I think it’s a foul. I don’t think there’s any doubt there’s a foul, you can see it’s a foul,’ Gallagher told Sky Sports.

    ‘If the referee doesn’t see it, the assistant has a perfect view, he’s looking straight at it and is very, very close. If the assistant flagged, everyone would have accepted that decision. Then the problem is there’s 25 seconds between the incident and the France goal. As we know in the Premier League, VAR would never go back that far. That’s not what VAR is there for.’

    On the referee’s performance as a whole, Gallagher said:

    ‘Whether he was nervous or the occasion got to him, he [Sampaio] certainly didn’t perform how you would expect a ref at that level to perform.

    ‘It wasn’t the level of a referee in a World Cup quarter-final. You can’t say he wasn’t at that level but I would say he didn’t produce on the day.During the 90 minutes, he didn’t reflect that level. The problems emanated from decisions he didn’t make rather than ones he did make.’