Lionel Messi gets his favourite referee for England vs Argentina World Cup semi-final despite conspiracy theories that tournament is ‘rigged’

Fears of favoritism towards Argentina at the World Cup have been raised further after FIFA confirmed that Lionel Messi’s favorite referee will officiate England’s eagerly awaited semi-final against the champions.

Messi’s side were far from on their best heading into Wednesday’s mouth-watering clash with the Three Lions, arguably edging out Egypt and Switzerland in the last 16 and quarter-finals respectively.

The manner of these victories, in which Egypt controversially scored a disallowed goal and Swiss striker Breel Embolo was sent off, sparked huge backlash and speculation that FIFA was conspiring to help Messi and Argentina win the tournament; The governing body vehemently denies this accusation.

On Tuesday it was confirmed that Ismail Elfath will be the man in the middle at the Atlanta Stadium on Wednesday as England try to reach their first World Cup final since 1966 while Argentina try to put together back-to-back exhibitions – in what will be the highest-profile event of his career as a referee.

The Moroccan-born American, assisted by compatriots Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins, will take charge of his fourth match at this year’s World Cup and will be refereeing for the first time in England or Argentina this summer. The fourth referee will be Italian Maurizio Mariani.

Elfath was the fourth official in Qatar, where Argentina beat France to win the 2022 World Cup, and the striker, who signed for MLS team Inter Miami in July 2023, has increased his encounters with Messi.

A month after signing for Inter Miami, Messi helped his new team win the Leagues Cup final against Nashville SC, refereed by Elfath.

Messi scored the opening goal with a powerful strike from outside the penalty area into the top corner before Nashville equalised. The match then went to penalties and Messi scored the first goal in the penalty shootout as Miami won 10-9.

The 44-year-old has managed Lionel Messi four times at club level – all four of which ended in victory – raising fears for England ahead of the semi-final

In fact, Messi has been managed by Elfath four times since arriving in America and has won in all of them. Besides the aforementioned Leagues Cup final, Messi also scored four goals in three other MLS matches.

England players should be warned, as Elfath’s MLS record this season shows he is not afraid to take out his notebook. Before the season was stopped for the World Cup, he showed 41 yellow cards, red cards to three players and gave away three penalties in the 10 matches he played.

This approach was followed at the World Cup, where the team issued eight yellow cards and one red card in three matches, with the Netherlands 2-2 Japan, Spain 1-0 Uruguay and Norway 2-1 Brazil.

The 44-year-old football player, who also caused controversy in the Spain-Uruguay match, became the target of the Spanish media due to his performance. He was accused of not being tough enough on the Uruguayans as the match turned volatile. Going into second half stoppage time, Uruguayan midfielder Agustin Canobbio was sent off late for a tough tackle on Pau Cubarsi.

However, the biggest criticism from the Spanish media came when Nicolas De La Cruz challenged Nico Williams and injured him. Williams described the post-match events as “one of the worst days of my life” but played the final minutes of their quarter-final win over Portugal.

There was also a controversial moment in Elfath’s last match, when he initially rejected Brazil’s request for a penalty after Norwegian defender Kristoffer Ajer fouled Matheus Cunha. However, before Bruno Guimaraes could see his penalty kick saved, VAR intervened and Elfath overturned his decision.

Messi and Argentina have faced scrutiny throughout the World Cup so far over allegations that referees have been biased in their favour. The latest incident took place on Saturday, when Swiss defender Manuel Akanji claimed everything was “against us” after losing 3-1 in extra time in the quarter-final.

Switzerland’s players and manager were outraged after Embolo became the first player to be sent off under a new rule for mistaken identity.

Elfath became the fourth referee of the 2022 World Cup final played between Argentina and France.

Messi approaches referee Joao Pinheiro during Argentina’s World Cup quarter-final win against Switzerland

Swiss players protested after Breel Embolo received a red card late in the match

In the 72nd minute of the quarter-final, Embolo received a second yellow card, which, after a video assistant referee review, led to the decision that he had dived rather than committed a foul on Argentinian Leandro Paredes. A new rule introduced for this World Cup states that if a player receives a yellow card or is sent off (but the foul was actually committed by the opposing team), the decision can be changed.

Evaluating the aftermath of the match, Akanji angrily said: ‘The slightest thing was called against us’ and ‘I have never experienced such a one-sided game.’ Coach Murat Yakin described the refereeing as ‘incomprehensible’.

Last week, FIFA referee chief Pierluigi Collina lashed out at those who questioned the integrity of World Cup officials, saying they would not be swayed by the complaints that followed Egypt’s last-16 defeat against Argentina.

The reigning champions won 3-2 in Atlanta after a 2-0 fight after 78 minutes. Egypt manager Hossam Hassan later accused FIFA of rigging the World Cup in favor of Argentina’s talisman Messi.

Hasan’s objections increased even more images showing it I’m angrily waiting to face Argentina in the tunnel after the full-time whistle.

Addressing criticism of officers, Collina rubbished the allegations against his staff and identified the wider consequences of these allegations on the defendants.

Asked by FIFA.com The FIFA Chief Refereeing Officer said of how he sees the World Cup so far: ‘Let’s start by saying that we have played 50 per cent more matches now compared to the FIFA 2022 Qatar World Cup and there are eight more big matches to be played.

‘Overall we are happy. However, with so many matches being played in a short period of time, it is normal for some things not to go as expected. When this happens, they are ready to work even harder to make sure they are fully prepared for the next match.

Constructive debate about decisions will of course be part of football, but false allegations have no place in our sport. No one can question the integrity of FIFA World Cup match officials. When this happens, reactions may occur that lead to threats to themselves and their families. This is not true.

‘Equally, no one can claim that FIFA Refereeing can be influenced by anyone, not even the FIFA President. [Gianni Infantino]. He has always shown his full support for FIFA Team One, trusting that we will work fully independently. Match officials make honest decisions and, like players and coaches, always try to do their best.’

FIFA Chief Referee Pierluigi Collina defends World Cup officials under fire

Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan accused FIFA of rigging the World Cup after being eliminated by Argentina in the last 16.

Egypt goalkeeper coach Saafan El-Sagheer was shown a red card after the bench reacted harshly to Enzo Fernandez’s winning goal for Argentina and became angry at multiple decisions made against them.

Collina’s perspective was quite different from Hasan’s, who was furious at the outcome of the match.

Following Enzo Fernandez’s injury-time winner, chaos ensued as Egypt’s angry staff challenged referee Francois Letexier, leading to goalkeeping coach Saafan El-Sagheer being shown a red card and Hasan being removed from the conflict with the referee.

The Pharaohs were furious that the referee and VAR did not award a penalty to Egypt after Mohamed Salah fell to the ground in the penalty area after his foot was broken by Julian Alvarez.

Early in the second half, Egypt had a goal disallowed by VAR due to a foul committed during the build-up. A series of decisions throughout the match went in favor of Argentina, who advanced to the quarter-finals to defend their North American title.

After the match, Hassan could not hide his anger and accused world football’s governing body, FIFA, of rigging the tournament so that Messi, the greatest player of all time, could remain in the tournament for ‘marketing reasons’.

“We were better but football isn’t fair,” the heartbroken coach said in his post-match interview.

‘It could be a marketing thing, they might want to have a World Cup with the winner of the last World Cup, they might want Messi to be present (in the tournament).

‘I thank my players very much. To all Egyptians, Arabs, Africans, you can work hard, that’s what you have to do, but sometimes there are other factors that push you to struggle.

‘I wish we could have been happier with the defeat, but with a serious defeat like today, I tell them (my players) to be sad. I wish we could be happier. Thank God for everything but football is different from what happens in the stadium when we play against world champions.

‘There is support for the world champions from every direction. Support and marketing.’

He later added: ‘Why is there no justice in sport? In football? I don’t want to try to put it nicely here with nice words. We were treated unfairly today. ‘We have been treated unfairly.’

Hassan claimed that the result was influenced by ‘internal’ and ‘external’ factors and that Egypt objected to Letexier’s selection as referee.

Ziko added fuel to the fire after the match by describing Letexier as an ‘unfair’ referee.

Mostafa Ziko, who scored Egypt’s second goal, congratulated Argentina for already winning the World Cup and claimed that the “unfair” referees showed favoritism to the team.

‘The referee is not fair,’ he said through tears in his post-match interview. ‘Unfair, unfair referee. He is an unfair person. This is such obvious injustice.

‘It wastes the labor of an entire nation. From the beginning of the match, we were winning 2-0 against Argentina. But the cup has already been given.’

‘I apologize to the Egyptian fans. We wanted to make them happy today. We didn’t know how to do this. But by God, this is out of our hands; It is in the hands of the referee. The cup has already been determined.

‘I congratulate Argentina on the World Cup. Congratulations. You don’t need anything else.”

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