“They Wanted Us to Delete the Images” – Controversy Erupts at the FIFA World Cup as Officials Hurriedly Try To Erase Footage

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is over and fans all around the world are celebrating the fact that Lionel Messi finally earned a World Cup trophy. The tournament has always been under tight scrutiny from activists to teams and players and to say FIFA pulled it off without any hiccup would be a massive overstatement.

Even from the beginning, FIFA was in hot waters when they banned the sale of beer inside the stadiums. The latest scoop came from the bronze medal match between beaten semifinalists Croatia and Morocco. 

Although Croatia managed to squeeze out a win, it is easy to say that Morocco won every soccer fan’s heart with their outstanding performance. The recent build-up against FIFA came due to the poor decisions made by the referee in the match for third place and what FIFA is doing about it.

FIFA is hiding its failures

When Croatia beat Morocco 2-1, Achraf Hakimi and other Moroccan players appealed for a penalty, which was denied by the referee. 

After the game, Hakimi was visibly frustrated with the referee’s decision and was seen approaching FIFA boss Infantino and shouting something. It isn’t clear what he said, but it did raise many eyebrows.

FIFA, on the other hand, is messing up more, trying to cover up the mess. According to the reports, FIFA is taking down all the videos and working to block the clips from becoming public.

While talking about it, SVT Sports reporter Johan Kucukaslan clarified, “They wanted us to delete the images. It is clear that these are embarrassing scenes for them, and it is a bit naive of them to think that a dozen journalists should not report on this when we witness what is happening.” (Translated via Google)

The 3rd place match was the biggest game ever for the North African side in the FIFA World Cup. Some players were seemingly upset over the refereeing and got into an argument with the match referee. 

Read More: VIDEO: Angry Morocco Fans Clash With Cops in Belgium After Their 2–0 Drubbing Against France in the FIFA World Cup Semi-Finals

Morocco players were visibly upset over some of the referee’s decisions during their loss to Croatia. A win could have been huge for a nation like Morocco which became the first African team to reach the semi-final.

Is this the worst quality of refereeing in the World Cup yet?

It is not like this is the first case of players blaming referees for wrong decisions. This is the story of this tournament. Almost after every match, there have been disagreements. Even Luka Modric lashed out at the referee for awarding the wrong penalty to Argentina in the semi-finals.

Players from both Argentina and Netherlands raised their voices against the referee in a very chaotic match. FIFA was never perfect, but this tournament could leave a stain on its reputation for a long time.

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