If one Moroccan player is to be believed, American referee Mark Geiger was a little star struck during his first match of the 2018 World Cup.
Nordin Amrabat claims the MLS official asked Portuguese defender Pepe for his jersey during the first half of the Portugal-Morocco match that saw the North African side eliminated from the World Cup.
“It’s incredible, I do not know what this American referee is used to,” Morocco winger Amrabat told Dutch television network NOS after the match. “He was very impressed by Cristiano Ronaldo, and I heard from Pepe that he asked for Pepe’s shirt in the first half.
“Come on, man, we’re here at a World Cup, it’s not a circus!”
That wasn’t the only complaint Morocco had about Geiger. Karim El Ahmadi criticised him for missing a foul on Ronaldo’s fourth minute goal that proved the decisive tally.
england coach gareth southgate injured while jogging
England had the day off from training, but that didn’t stop one of their ranks from picking up a knock.
Head coach Gareth Southgate was going for a run in Repino near the England base camp when he fell and dislocated his right shoulder. He addressed reporters with his arm in a sling after the incident.
“I might not be celebrating any goals as athletically in future!” Soughgate said.
“It is better this is me than one of the players,” he added.
mexico federation fined 10,000 swiss francs for offensive fan chants
FIFA’s investigation into Mexican fan chanting has concluded and the federation has been assessed a “minor” fine of 10,000 Swiss Francs for “discriminatory and insulting chants” during their 1-0 win over Germany.
Mexican supporters were clearly heard chanting at goalkeeper Manuel Neuer during his goal kicks throughout the match.
“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) with a fine of CHF 10,000 for the misconduct of a group of Mexican fans (cf. art. 67 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code) in relation to discriminatory and insulting chants during the first half of the 2018 FIFA World Cup match played between Germany and Mexico,” FIFA wrote in a statement.
Javier Hernandez took to Instagram to urge the country’s supporters to stop the anti-gay chant. “To all Mexican fans in the stadiums, don’t shout ‘pu…’,” he said. “Let’s not risk another sanction.”
Mexico weren’t the only ones fined. Serbia were also docked 10,000 Francs “for the display of an offensive and political banner by Serbian fans during the match played between Serbia and Costa Rica.”