A day before the World Cup began in Qatar, FIFA president Gianni Infantino held a press conference where he asked for respect to be given to the referees officiating in the tournament. Three weeks later, it is safe to assume that his calls have gone unheeded.
There were a number of common threads connecting the four quarterfinals of Qatar 2022 together. Every single one of them was high on drama that lasted till the final whistle. There were memorable goals and moments of incredible skill. There were also a couple of unsavoury connections. All four of them were bound together by controversial refereeing decisions and players hitting out against match officials in a way rarely seen (or allowed) on the international stage.
As Lionel Messi faced the media after a thrilling penalty shootout against the Netherlands, one might have expected him to be rather pleased that things had gone his way in the end. Instead, he directed an astonishing amount of vitriol against the referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz. "I don't want to talk about the referee because you can't be honest," Messi said, before talking about the referee and being honest. "They can't put a referee like that for these instances, they can't put a referee who isn't up to the task."
Messi's comments were not without a cause for sure. Lahoz had just dished out a record 18 yellow cards in the match, including one to Messi himself. There were moments where it appeared he was going to lose control of the game itself. A couple of days later, Messi's comments had the desired effect. FIFA announced that Lahoz would not referee another game in the tournament.
The incident highlights the two-pronged nature of the problem that stares FIFA in the face. On one hand, refereeing standards at the World Cup have left a lot to be desired. There has been a controversial incident every couple of games. The tournament itself started with people wondering why a goal by Ecuador had been ruled out against Qatar. The debate over whether the ball had gone out before the Japanese goal that knocked Germany out had to be quelled with detailed explanatory videos. England believe they went out because the refereeing wasn't in their favour. Portugal were unhappy with the decision to have an Argentinean referee for their game against Morocco, something that could have easily been avoided. VAR has only muddled already muddy waters.
On the other hand, there is the growing problem of players and coaches explicitly calling the referee's ability into question, comments that, in another era, would have resulted in at least a ban. Messi's insinuation that Lahoz was 'not up to the task' was not even the worst thing said about the latter on the day. His teammate Emiliano Martinez called him 'useless' and accused him of wanting the Netherlands to score.
This is not just an Argentinean problem. Dutch midfielder Frenkie De Jong branded Lahoz scandalous.
“As soon as regulation time ended they went for him. From that moment he only whistled for Argentina. It was really scandalous,” he said. More than one Portuguese player alleged that referee Facundo Tello worked against them to make the tournament easier for his home country. "We already know how it works… before the game we already knew what we were in for, and what kind of referee we would find," said midfielder Bruno Fernandes. After England went out against France, defender Harry Maguire thought that the 'decision making throughout the game was really poor'.
Once the dust settles on Qatar 2022, FIFA has four years to figure out how to avoid a repeat of this in 2026. Whether they will is a whole other question.