England 1-2 France (Kane P 54′ | Tchouameni 17′, Giroud 78′)
Gareth Southgate would not be drawn on the performance of referee Wilton Sampaio after England suffered heartbreak in their World Cup quarter-final against France.
Southgate told ITV in his post-match interview when asked about the official that it was “pointless me going into that, I’d rather talk about our players”.
Gary Neville was a little less charitable. He slammed Sampaio as a “joke of a referee”, adding: “He had an absolute nightmare. I’m not saying it was all down to England’s defeat – people will say it is excuses – but he’s just a bad referee, rank bad.”
Harry Kane’s late penalty miss ultimately proved the difference between the two nations, the captain blazing over just minutes after what proved to be the winning goal from Olivier Giroud.
By then, and despite the Three Lions eventually being given two spot-kicks – Kane scored the first and missed the second – Southgate’s men had become aggrieved by a number of contentious calls from Sampaio.
“Not great if I’m being honest, not great,” said England midfielder Jude Bellingham when asked about the refereeing. “Anyone can have a bad game, players and referees. I think he wasn’t where he should have been today in terms of the level for a game like this.
“But there are more factors as to why we lost, this definitely isn’t me putting it all on him, we were the ones who played the game, but yeah I don’t think he was at the level tonight.
“I think there were a few [fouls] around the box in the first half, we are deadly at set pieces, and I think any one of those can make the difference.”
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Aurelien Tchouameni opened the scoring with a long-range effort from 25 yards. While England were guilty of failing to close him down, they were adamant Bukayo Saka had been fouled in the build-up at the other end of the pitch. Sampaio waved play on.
Upamecano on Kane
Dayot Upamecano made a blatant foul on Kane prompting furious penalty appeals from Phil Foden. It was deemed to be outside the box, but Sampaio did not award the foul at all.
“It’s a simple decision. He kicks his leg away – I’m not sure why that isn’t a foul,” Neville said. “He’s nibbled and he’s kicked him. It should be a free-kick. Upamecano has tried to win the ball on three or four occasions where can’t win the ball, on Saka, on Kane.”
Harry Kane denied a foul right on the edge of the box by VAR!
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) December 10, 2022
But should it have been given…?#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/ZSAhXaHiaN
Griezmann’s fouls
Antoine Griezmann was guilty of a number of tactical fouls which went unpunished. He did eventually make his way into the book, though he escaped a red card for another challenge while already on a yellow.
Mount’s penalty appeal
Substitute Mason Mount won England’s second penalty after a barge from Theo Hernandez, with the France full-back making no obvious attempt to play the ball and nudging him the Chelsea playmaker in the back. Sampaio was set not to give the penalty at all, but VAR intervened.
There was some debate over whether Hernandez could have been sent off too for denying a goalscoring opportunity, though he only received a yellow card.
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