SAN FRANCISCO: Former England defender Gary Neville has accused football’s governing body, FIFA, of acting like a ‘dictatorship’ after a highly controversial penalty was awarded to Switzerland in their World Cup clash against Qatar. Slamming the lack of transparency during the review process, Neville labeled the entire situation as ‘absolutely ridiculous’. Switzerland were handed the crucial spot-kick when midfielder Remo Freuler, who had run on to a clinical header into his path by teammate Breel Embolo, was brought down by Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.
However, massive confusion emerged across the stadium and broadcasting networks after television footage appeared to show Freuler in an offside position before Abunada clattered into him. Despite the visual discrepancy, the VAR checked the incident and cleared the penalty, which Embolo successfully converted to put Switzerland in front. FIFA claims that advanced semi-automated offside technology is actively in place at this World Cup to handle close calls, but they have not yet published or broadcasted any virtual images or data lines to support the decision to allow the penalty to stand. Furthermore, no alternative angles of the crucial incident were shown on the official world feed broadcast.
“We all think it here and everybody will think it at home,” a furious Gary Neville said while speaking on ITV. “FIFA are the host broadcaster. They’ve got the concrete evidence of the automatic offside decision which they can easily show us. Yet, they choose not to,” Neville added, targeting the governing body’s tight control over broadcast feeds.
ലഘു വിവരണം
ലോകകപ്പിൽ ഖത്തറിനെതിരായ മത്സരത്തിൽ സ്വിറ്റ്സർലൻഡിന് അനുകൂലമായി ലഭിച്ച വിവാദ പെനാൽറ്റിയിൽ ഫിഫയ്ക്കെതിരെ രൂക്ഷവിമർശനവുമായി മുൻ താരം ഗാരി നെവിൽ രംഗത്തെത്തി. സ്വിസ് താരം റെമോ ഫ്രൂളർ ഓഫ്സൈഡ് പൊസിഷനിലാണെന്ന് ടിവി ദൃശ്യങ്ങളിൽ വ്യക്തമായിട്ടും വാർ (VAR) പെനാൽറ്റി അനുവദിക്കുകയായിരുന്നു. ഫിഫ ഒരു ഏകാധിപത്യ സംഘടനയെപ്പോലെയാണ് പെരുമാറുന്നതെന്നും ഇതിന്റെ കൃത്യമായ ഓഫ്സൈഡ് ദൃശ്യങ്ങൾ പുറത്തുവിടാതെ ഒളിച്ചുകളി നടത്തുകയാണെന്നും നെവിൽ ആരോപിച്ചു.
(With inputs from Dailymail)
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