Referee Wilton Sampaio played an important role in their loss against France, in the eyes of the English. The Brazilian referee made some questionable decisions, especially in the first half.
For example, Sampaio allowed play to continue in the run-up to Aurélien Tchouaméni’s French opening goal despite an alleged foul on Bukayo Saka. Later in the first half, Harry Kane was hooked by defender Dayot Upamecano on the edge of the box. Harry Maguire felt that England was not going well in that respect. “We are very disappointed, we dominated large parts of the games, but we had a lot of decisions against us,” the defender told beIN Sports afterwards. “We kept fighting and created chance after chance, but they were deadly on two occasions. That’s why they are the world champion and probably also the title favourite.”
When asked about the arbitrator’s actions, Maguire stated his annoyance. “I thought the referee’s decisions throughout the game were very bad. As players we are always criticised, so it would be nice if he would respond and say if he thinks he whistled well.’ For example, Maguire felt that Sampaio should have whistled for Upamecano’s foul on Kane. “I think it was outside the penalty area, but it was a clear foul. And a clear foul was made on Bukayo in the run-up to their first goal. Those were important decisions at important moments. You expect them to make the right decision.”
In the second half, England did receive two penalties, although VAR had to be used again in the second. Because Kane missed that second penalty, the World Cup is over for England. “Tournament football can be brutal,” says Maguire. “The big moments are decisive, they didn’t work out in our favour today.”
In the run-up to Tchouaméni’s goal, Saka was also fouled in the eyes of BBC analyst Ian Wright. “I don’t understand why people don’t whistle there, especially when you consider what they whistle for these days. Now England had to chase and eventually went down because of Kane’s missed penalty. The fact that Theo Hernández did not receive a red card for holding the broken Mason Mount for the second penalty also caused incomprehension. Neville tweeted at the time that referee Sampaio was a joke. Undoubtedly, the last word has not yet been said,” Wright said.
