France-Paraguay: Referee Tantashev Heavily Criticized, Removed From Quarter-Finals

Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev will not be retained for the World Cup Quarter-Finals following his controversial performance during the France-Paraguay Round of 16 match on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. His World Cup ends there.

Tantashev’s performance was unanimously criticized for his leniency toward Paraguayan players, who nonetheless committed numerous unsporting acts throughout the match. For several observers, FIFA made a casting error in assigning him to a knockout match.

“We can indeed question this because we’re entering decisive matches where a referee must be capable of understanding what’s at stake. It was a non-performance on his part. I immediately saw that he was refereeing as if in his own country,” said former referee Bertrand Layec. “In his positioning, his management of free kicks… It was blatant.”

Layec points notably to two unsanctioned fouls as the evening’s most serious errors. “His major mistake was the jersey pull on Kylian Mbappé and the half-slap on Olise. They were in his field of vision, he saw them and therefore had to sanction them.” The former referee summarizes: “He wasn’t in his place and he failed to adapt his refereeing to the match’s style, with two teams playing very different styles of play.”

However, Layec nuances Tantashev’s responsibility by questioning FIFA’s own directives. “It’s not laxity, nor due to referees, but it’s linked to directives given by FIFA to avoid excessive disciplinary sanctions and players ending up suspended,” he explains. “The referee who arrives with a refereeing culture from Europe or Asia is somewhat disturbed, because where he estimates there should be a hundred yellows, he doesn’t give them. He finds himself lost in the fairness of his disciplinary decisions.”

The assignment of a referee accustomed to second-tier competitions for a World Cup Round of 16 match remains, according to these specialists, a question that FIFA will have to answer for.