Morocco’s football federation has lodged a protest with FIFA against the referee’s ‘wrong decisions’ during the World Cup semi-final match between France and Morocco. In the match played on Wednesday, France defeated Morocco by two goals to zero. The Moroccan Football Federation said in a statement that Mexican referee Cesar Ramos failed to award Morocco a penalty kick in the first half of the match when French player Theo Hernandez fouled Moroccan player Safian Boufal.
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According to the statement, instead of awarding a penalty kick to Morocco for the foul, the referee showed a yellow card to Boufal. The Moroccan Football Federation says the match officials also failed to review the substitute when he was brought down. The Royal Moroccan Football Federation has written to the relevant body to review the referee’s decisions that caused Morocco to miss two penalty kicks that many refereeing experts considered penalties,” the statement added.
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We are surprised that even the video assistant referee could not react in time in this situation. Remember, the Moroccan team will face Croatia on Saturday for the bronze medal. Contrary to expectations, Morocco defeated strong teams from Belgium, Spain, and Portugal to reach the semi-finals. If Morocco manages to beat Croatia in the third-place match, it will be the first time that an African team will win a bronze medal at a FIFA World Cup.
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