FIFA has picked the referee for the Mexico vs England game, even though he made ‘one of the worst’ calls in a World Cup before.
FIFA has announced that Australian referee Alireza Faghani will be in charge of England’s important last-16 match against Mexico, and this choice has sparked quite a bit of debate.
England is gearing up to face one of the tournament’s host nations, and much of the talk before the game has been about changes to the kickoff time. The match was originally scheduled for 6pm local time on Sunday (1am BST), but FIFA suggested moving it six hours earlier because of predicted flooding and thunderstorms.
Mexico’s coach, Javier Aguirre, was very upset by this change since it meant his team would have six fewer hours to prepare for a huge game. The new kickoff time would have been 12pm local time.
However, late Saturday, FIFA confirmed the match would start at the original time, after the FA expressed concern for fans who planned to attend the game in Mexico City.
Fans in the UK will be happy to know pubs will stay open until 5am so everyone can watch the game live, as confirmed by Prime Minister Kier Starmer. England is aiming to reach the quarter-finals for the third straight World Cup.
While keeping the kickoff time the same is good news, FIFA’s choice of referee has caused some raised eyebrows. They confirmed that Alireza Faghani will referee the exciting match at the Azteca Stadium.
Faghani, 48, is refereeing his third World Cup after officiating in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018. He was once considered one of the best referees globally, but some feel he’s lost a bit of his sharpness. He’s also been part of a controversial moment during this tournament.
In a group stage game between France and Senegal, Kylian Mbappe scored twice as France won 3-1. But Faghani didn’t award a penalty when Mbappe was clearly fouled in the box by Sadio Mane. After watching the replay on a pitchside monitor, Faghani still didn’t change his decision and instead gave a goal kick to Senegal.
This caused a lot of anger among referees and football experts. Darren Cann, who was an assistant referee in the 2010 World Cup final, said many top refs he knows couldn’t understand why no penalty was given. Former player Jamie O’Hara called it “one of the worst decisions” he’s ever seen.
England will hope they don’t face any questionable calls in their clash with Mexico as they push to reach the quarter-finals.