Dermot Gallagher, a former referee for the Premier League, has acknowledged that World Cup official Wilton Pereira Sampaio fell short of expectations during England’s 2-1 quarterfinal loss to France last weekend.
Following Saturday’s loss to France at the Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar, England was eliminated from the World Cup competition.
The English players were obviously upset with the referee Sampaio during the game, and they have since criticised him, calling his performance “a joke.”
And Gallagher believes Sampaio did not produce on the match day and says not awarding the Three Lions a free-kick for the foul on Bukayo Saka prior to France’s first goal was an obvious mistake.
“I think it’s a foul. I don’t think there is any doubt there is a foul, you can see it is a foul,” Gallagher told Sky Sports.
“If the referee doesn’t see it, the assistant has a perfect view, he is looking straight at it and is very, very close. If the assistant flagged, everyone would have accepted that decision.
“Then the problem is there’s 25 seconds between the incident and the France goal. As we know in the Premier League, VAR would never go back that far. That is not what VAR is there for.”
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