Furious followers demand World Cup referee be banned after France vs Paraguay ‘shame’
Referee Ilgiz Tantashev failed to book a single Paraguay player in their fiery World Cup defeat to France, with fans calling for the Uzbeki official to be suspended by FIFA following the controversial match
World Cup fans have called for referee Ilgiz Tantashev to be banned after France and Paraguay’s fiery clash(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
FIFA are facing demands to ban referee Ilgiz Tantashev after he failed to book a single Paraguay player during their heated loss to France. World Cup supporters were left seething over his display, with Tantashev being slammed for showing ‘no interest’ in enforcing the rules of the game or safeguarding players.
France stars avoided any serious harm but were heavily targeted as Paraguay employed physical tactics, with brutal tackles regularly flying in throughout the encounter. The match also witnessed numerous flashpoints, culminating in ugly scenes as both sides came to blows after Paraguay vented their fury at being eliminated.
BBC pundits Joe Hart and Thomas Hitzlsperger didn’t mince their words as they condemned Paraguay’s conduct, labelling them a ‘disgrace’. Despite racking up 12 fouls, referee Tantashev, who has held FIFA status for 13 years, didn’t show a single yellow card to the South American outfit during the 90 minutes.
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However, three French players were booked during the match. World Cup supporters flocked to social media to slam the Uzbeki official for his failure to manage the contest, with countless fans branding him ‘incompetent’ and demanding his suspension.
“Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev with an extraordinary performance. No interest in refereeing, no interest in applying the laws of the game, no interest in player welfare or well-being. France very fortunate to avoid serious injuries,” one fan wrote. Another added: “That was one of the worst referee performances I have ever seen at any level,” while a third said: “Not 1 yellow card for Paraguay [laughing face emoji]. Shocking performance from the ref.”
Others demanded FIFA step in. “Ilgiz Tantashev needs a red card and suspended for the rest of the World Cup. How can he seriously not think Paraguay deserved a booking?” one said.
A second wrote: “Ilgiz Tantashev and the VAR officials on duty should be suspended. That was the worst officiating I’ve seen in this World Cup,” while a third added: “Shame on you, Referee Ilgiz Tantashev. Why allow an incompetent referee to officiate football at this level?”.
France emerged 1-0 victors courtesy of a 70th-minute spot-kick from Kylian Mbappe to secure a quarter-final clash with Morocco, but Paraguay dominated the headlines after the final whistle. Former Premier League star Hitzlsperger confessed he had lost all respect for the Paraguay squad following the encounter, while Hart was left appalled and launched a blistering attack on them.
Paraguay players repeatedly confronted Mbappe throughout the contest, with the 27-year-old, who now sits level with Lionel Messi as the tournament’s leading marksman on seven goals, even declining to shake hands with goalkeeper Orlando Gill at the final whistle, who responded by hurling the ball at him in a moment of anger. Hart defended the behaviour of France’s star player on the BBC, praising his composure and criticising the referee.
He said: “I absolutely love how [Mbappe] has behaved in this game, because they have come for him from minute one. And towards the end when he was just laughing at the Paraguayan players, that is… He’s allowed to be arrogant because he is brilliant, but the Paraguayan players were an absolute disgrace tonight.
“If they were on my team I’d be dragging half of them off the pitch. I would never want to win that way, I would never want to play football that way and the referee didn’t help in any of the circumstances.
“The fact that not one Paraguayan was booked inside the 90 minutes today is absolutely astonishing. Fair play to France, you can see what it means. Sometimes you can play beautiful football, pass people off the park – but when you grind out a win as a team and get that win as they did tonight? Superb.”
Meanwhile, Thierry Henry hailed it as a ‘victory for football’ after France advanced. ” Football won,” the 1998 World Cup winner declared.
“I don’t want to talk about Paraguay. I want to talk about what France did. How they stayed composed. How Kylian Mbappe was laughing at the end. How a lot of the players didn’t react to the provocation, although they finished – I think we took three yellow cards, and one at the end for Paraguay.
“But at the end of the day, that’s the World Cup, that’s how it is. It’s not always going to be easy. But well done, they stayed calm, it was very difficult, but like I said, football won.”
