{"id":39200,"date":"2022-11-05T17:46:31","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T00:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culturalmaya.com\/the-arbitration-controversy-around-korea-in-the-2002-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2022-11-05T17:46:31","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T00:46:31","slug":"the-arbitration-controversy-around-korea-in-the-2002-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturalmaya.com\/the-arbitration-controversy-around-korea-in-the-2002-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"The arbitration controversy around Korea in the 2002 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Referee rulings were a headache for FIFA at the 2002 Japan\/Korea World Cup, especially as they turned out to be particularly local, especially in the case of South Korea. It is that the host team received a big hand from the referees in the duels against Portugal, in the group stage, Italy, in the round of 16, and Spain, for the quarterfinals, which aroused many suspicions.<\/p>\n

Attention began to arouse in the penultimate game of Zone D, when Hiddink’s team secured first place by beating Portugal 1-0. That day, the Argentine \u00c1ngel S\u00e1nchez expelled two Portuguese players (Joao Pinto and Beto) when they were still tied without goals. The general agreement was that these red cards were deserved and the issue did not escalate.<\/p>\n

Spain fell to the locals in the quarterfinals Getty Images<\/p>\n

However, the theme picked up steam again in the first round of direct elimination, when the Asians beat Italy 2-1 in extra time. The Ecuadorian Byron Moreno interrupted a legitimate scoring play by the Azzurri offside that ended in a goal (Tommasi ended up pushing the ball into the goal and was not ahead) and sent Francesco Totti off for diving into the area in a move that was at least debatable . The Italians say it could have been a penalty, and it is possible. What is certain is that -whether it was a foul or not- the man from Roma did not fake the fall that cost him the second yellow card. In addition, the referee awarded a penalty for Korea, which was saved by Buffon, although it was undoubtedly well charged.<\/p>\n

Precisely Italy was the nation most affected by the referees, since they annulled five goals in three games, including two absolutely legal against Croatia, for the group stage, one of them on time, in a game that ended up losing. Englishman Graham Poll, at the behest of Danish assistant Jens Larsen, was wrong on both decisions. First he drowned out Vieri’s scream (because he considered that he was in an irregular position) and, towards the end, Matterazzi, for an alleged foul by Filippo Inzaghi on Simic.<\/p>\n

Trappatoni’s men were also deprived of a legitimate goal in the 1-1 draw against Mexico, when the Brazilian Carlos Sim\u00f3n charged Filippo Inzaghi with a nonexistent offside, who ended up scoring a goal for the Europeans.<\/p>\n

However, the most controversial performance was undoubtedly that of the Egyptian judge Gamal Ghandour, who in the game that South Korea beat Spain on penalties to reach the first World Cup semifinal in its history, canceled two legitimate goals against Spain: one in regulation time and the other in extra time.<\/p>\n

After 50 minutes of play, Ruben Baraja had scored the first goal for the Iberians after a cross that came from a free kick, but the referee decided that he had committed a non-existent foul before heading into the net. Five minutes had passed into extra time when the judge whistled again for a Spanish goal: a cross from Joaqu\u00edn, a header from Morientes and a whistle that indicated that the ball had gone over the baseline before heading towards the area. It was a scandal that the Spanish will hardly forget.<\/p>\n