Edinson Cavani didn’t get his hands on referee Daniel Siebert, but the VAR screen had to believe it. Furious, Uruguay’s veteran pushed the hated monitor to the ground as he trudged into the dressing room in frustration after the bitter World Cup knockout. The South Americans blamed the German referee for their failure.
Completely beside themselves, Cavani, Jose Maria Gimenez and the rest of the sky-blue crowd stormed in Siebert’s direction after the final whistle of the group final against Ghana – in the 2-0 (2-0) victory they missed exactly one goal for the round of 16 because South Korea 2: 1 against Portugal. A goal that Uruguay saw cheated by the Berliner. “A gang of thieves, that’s what they are,” Gimenez scolded on the field and followed with some adult insults.
“Openly disadvantaged”
The Celeste felt “deprived of two clear penalties” after the first preliminary round since 2002, as defender Diego Godin lamented. First Ghana’s Daniel Amartey (57th) had clarified robustly against Liverpool star Darwin Nunez, before Alidu Seidu Cavani hit the calf in injury time and he fell. In the first scene, Siebert saw the ball played according to the video images, but the German no longer looked at the quite clear foul on Cavani himself.
Uruguay’s press immediately recalled the 2-0 defeat in the second group game, when Portugal were awarded a controversial penalty. “Whatever the penalty, both turned into a perverse injustice by the referees who eliminated Uruguay in the group stage,” wrote the daily El Observador. And what’s more: “Uruguay was openly disadvantaged at this World Cup.”
For Siebert, who had previously led the game between Tunisia and Australia, the desert World Cup could now be over. Precisely because of that misjudgment. “An otherwise really good performance in a very difficult game will unfortunately mean that he won’t get another game as a referee. That’s the referee’s lot – especially at a World Cup.” tweeted former referee Manuel Gräfe.
Meanwhile, Siebert gets support from referee colleague Patrick Ittrich. “Daniel Siebert deserves the greatest respect for his refereeing and what he had to endure after the final whistle,” Ittrich tweeted on Saturday and agreed with Siebert’s assessment of the scene in question.
If Siebert goes home, his fate will unite him with Uruguay’s superstar Luis Suarez, who crouched on the bench crying for minutes after the Ghana game. The 35-year-old, who prepared both of Giorgian de Arrascaeta’s goals (26/32) in what was probably his last World Cup game, said on Instagram that he was “proud to be Uruguayan, even if they don’t respect us”. El Observador also agreed: “Luis Suarez didn’t deserve such an end.”
