The referees play an important role in sports games. Their decision can make the game go smoothly, even more, fair and transparent. Each referee’s decision can cause the game to change for the better or for the worse. The bad Fatal then may not be out of any time point in the 90 minutes of the battle. Even a small mistake can waste consequences, affecting the overall result of the team. Especially big tournaments like the World Cup.n
In football history, there have always been referees with bad, even strange decisions that put their names on the list of the worst referees in football history and turned into moments where the Football fans cannot forgive.
Here are 10 of the worst referee mistakes in World Cup history. We will see more than at the World Cups next? Even with the modern technology VAR applied to the game. Fans, sit back, enjoy the game and don’t forget to look for our prediction at happythais.com during the upcoming 2023 World Cup in Qatar.
1. Byron Moreno
Without any doubt, this Ecuadorian man is one of the worst referees in the history of football. He was the disgraced referee of the match between Italy and South Korea at the 2002 World Cup. Byron with his terrible decisions that made the match one of the most questionable moments in the history of football.
His first conscious mistake came when Moreno gave South Korea a soft penalty in the first half and only showed Hwang Sun-hong a yellow card for a foul with Gianluca Zambrotta which he later confessed deserved a red penalty. He also ignored Kim Tae-young’s elbow tackle on Alessandro del Piero.
He then dismissed Francesco Totti for diving when he should have been given a penalty. He denied Damiano Tommasi’s golden goal in extra time on the pretext of Tommasi being offside even though he was not. With his mistakes, he eliminated the Italians and ensured South Korea reached the quarter-finals safely.
In the end, the Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno was probably banned from entering Italy after these series of mistakes, as well as undermining his reputation and his professionalism towards the football world in general and the audience in particular.
2. Gamal Al-Ghandour
Gamal Mahmoud Ahmed El-Ghandour, a retired Egyptian referee, is the next worst referee in football history. He is primarily known for his poor performances in the 2002 World Cup quarter-final between Spain and South Korea.
Despite outstanding experience as a referee in many prestigious matches, he made strange decisions in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinal and angered many football fans. In the match between Spain and South Korea, he terribly disallowed two Spanish goals.
Then he, along with his linesmen, judged Spanish attacks in the match to be offside. He has also ignored a series of South Korean cold-hitting errors. That led to Spain exhausting when entering the penalty shootout after 120 minutes ended with a 0-0 draw.
3. Jorge Larrionda
Jorge Larrionda was the referee of the match between England and Germany at the 2010 World Cup. On 27th June 2010, England faced Germany in the knockout stages of the 2010 World Cup at Bloemfontein.
In the 38th minutes of the game, Lampard had a shot from afar, the ball hit the crossbar and returned to the ground before the German goalkeeper caught the ball. Slow-motion on television showed that the ball was a meter behind the line, but Mr Larrionda did not award it as a goal. This made the audience, especially England fans, angry because if the referee admitted the goal, England would draw 2–2 with Germany. Speaking after the defeat, the Chelsea midfielder confirmed that England would overtake Germany if referee Jorge Larrionda recognized his goal in the first half.
4. Koman Coulibaly
Koman Coulibaly is a Malian football referee. He started his refereeing career in 1994 and has been the official international referee for FIFA since 1999. Unfortunately, his wrong decisions in the 2010 FIFA World Cup set his career off the line.
He was appointed to be the referee of the match between the US and Slovakia from Group C on June 18, 2010. In the 86th minute of the match, Mr Coulibaly denied Edu’s goal because he thought his team-mates – midfielder Michael Bradley – had acted to thwart the Slovenian defender.
After reviewing the video of the situation, it was clear that it was the Slovenian defender who deliberately thwarted Bradley and hugged the player in the penalty area. This led the American – who should have been 3-2 ahead – to end with a 2-2 draw with the Germans.
After that match, FIFA decided to remove Coulibaly from the tournament’s refereeing line-up.
5. Graham Poll
The English referee, Graham Poll, made the wrong decisions in the match between Croatia and Australia at World Cup 2006.
In the match, he punished Croatia’s Josip Simunic … 3 yellow cards without knowing that he should kick him out of the field earlier. After that, although he gave a penalty to the Australian team in the first half after Stjepan Tomas’s handball, he easily ignored two similar errors in the second half.
Another mistake of Poll was, Graham Poll did not make any decisions about Harry Kewell scoring 2-2 on the offside, even though those who watched the match already noticed.
A series of British newspapers published right after the match attacked Mr Graham Poll. At the same time, Poll was sent home from the tournament shortly after.
6. Howard Webb
In the World Cup final in South Africa 2010, the Dutch team seemed to approach the match with plans to use force to neutralize the threat from Spain. And when Nigel De Jon Kung-fu kicked Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso in the chest, Nigel De Jon should have received a straight red card.
What confuses the audience was that, at that time, English referee Howard Webb only gave a yellow card. He didn’t apologize at the time but a few years later, he admitted in his book that he made the wrong decision.
7. Yuichi Nishimura
Yuichi Nishimura was selected as the referee in the opening match of the 2014 World Cup between Brazil vs Croatia, but the Japanese referee caused a lot of controversy because of his wrong decisions.
In the 27th minute, Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura withdrew Neymar a yellow card for a blatant elbow in Luka Modric’s face. In addition, he also decided to blow the penalty for Brazil, which was the turning point of the match that helped Selecao win 3-1.
His decisions led to much controversy and waves of indignation from the players, fans, as well as experts in the world at the time.
8. Djamel Haimoudi
In the first 62 matches of the 2014 World Cup, no yellow cards were shown to be simulated. The first one came in the 68th minute of a third-place playoff match between Brazil and the Netherlands — and it was the wrong decision.
Brazil should have had a chance to shorten Brazil’s score to 2-0 against the Netherlands in the 68th minute, but Algerian referee Djamel Haimoudi believed that the brazil player – Oscar had simulated contact with Holland’s Daley Blind. But playback pictures clearly show Daley Blind has stomped on his right foot. The collision injured the Dutch midfielder, forcing him to leave the game. In the end, Oscar got a yellow card.
The decision of Haimoudi caused a lot of controversy in many different articles after the match.
9. Humberto Clavijo
The mistakes of the referee Humberto Clavijo in the Battle of Mexico – Cameroon led to his elimination in the following matches of the 2014 World Cup.
In the 10th minute, Giovani Dos Santos scored the opening goal but was dismissed as offside by Humberto Clavijo. However, play-back videos show Gio lining up the last defender.
Twenty minutes later, Dos Santos hit his head from a corner but was again blown offside. Clavijo made a not-so-good decision as the goal was considered valid because the ball hit the former Tottenham star’s head from the Cameroon defender’s head.
Thankfully, Mexico still won 1-0 against Cameroon after the match.
10. Clive Thomas
Referee Clive Thomas’s decision to stop the match between Sweden and Brazil was one of the most controversial moments in the 1978 World Cup.
It was the first match at the 1978 World Cup finals of Brazil and Sweden. The score was 1-1 and Brazil was awarded a corner in the 89th minute. Zico scored from the corner, but as soon as he scored, the referee Clive Thomas had blown for full time to signal the end of the match.
This decision of Clive Thomas has caused many complaints and controversy, making his reputation worse. Fortunately, Brazil won the last match of the group stage and saved Thomas from becoming the villain of the tournament.
Even though the referee plays an important role in making sure the games are played in a fair way, they can still be inexperienced in judgmental situations and easily make the wrong decisions based on their own subjective assessment. Therefore, coaching, as well as ensuring the knowledge of the referee before participating in a match is a priority, in order that the matches can happen smoothly and transparently.
