Switzerland's World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina on Saturday has sparked controversy over the refereeing performance, with the Swiss team accusing officials of favoring their decisions towards Argentina.
The match saw Argentina secure a 3-1 win over Switzerland, with the latter reduced to 10 men following Breel Embolo's red card in the 72nd minute. Embolo became the first player to be sent off due to a new law for mistaken identity at the World Cup this summer.
Switzerland midfielder Leandro Paredes was initially given a yellow card for his challenge on Embolo, but after a VAR review, Portuguese referee Joao Pinheiro changed his on-field decision and gave a second yellow card to Embolo for simulation.
Switzerland were unhappy with the application of the mistaken identity law, which the International Football Association Board updated before the World Cup to cover situations where a player was given a yellow card but the offense was committed by the opposing player.
Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji expressed his frustration with the referee's performance, claiming that several fouls and dives by Argentine players "went unpunished." Akanji stated, "When you have the referee against you, it becomes difficult. Every little thing was called against us. Every dive and every foul by the Argentinians went unpunished."
Akanji also praised his team's performance, saying, "I'm so proud of our team. What we've achieved throughout the entire tournament, and especially today… We played against the world champions, and they didn't stand a chance. If the game had continued 11 against 11, it would have likely gone in our favour."
Switzerland head coach Murat Yakin expressed his disappointment with the referee's decision, stating, "After the equaliser, we clearly had the momentum on our side. Unfortunately, this was punished by a refereeing error. The referee shouldn't have given the Argentinian a yellow card in that situation."
Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka also expressed his frustration with the refereeing decision, stating, "It's a huge decision that completely changes the game. It hurts a lot. The rules are the rules. We can't change them. But with this decision, he killed the game."
The controversy over the refereeing performance comes as FIFA also received an official complaint from Egypt over the officiating in their 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the last-16 on Tuesday. Egypt were furious with the decision to rule out Zico's goal and wanted a penalty for a foul on Mohamed Salah moments before Argentina scored from a counter-attack to win the game.
FIFA's chief refereeing officer, Pierluigi Collina, hit back at allegations of bias towards Argentina, stating, "Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials… equally, nobody can claim that FIFA refereeing can be influenced by anyone, not even by the FIFA president."
Argentina will now play England in the World Cup semi-final at 8pm BST on Wednesday.
