Antonio Mateu Lahoz is going home after Lionel Messi openly criticized his officiating in the quarterfinals match between Argentina and the Netherlands. Antonio Mateu Lahoz made some questionable calls during the game which infuriated not only Argentina but the Netherlands as well.
Mateu Lahoz issued 17 cards during the match, 13 of them were for arguing with his decisions. Lionel Messi did not mince his words and was up front with the officials work, “I don’t want to speak about referees because after they will sanction you. But people saw what happened. I think FIFA must take care of this. It cannot put a referee like that for a match of such magnitude, of such importance. The referee cannot fail to be up to the task.”
It looks like FIFA heard Messi and gave Antonio Mateu Lahoz his walking papers making him the third official sent home during the tournament for questionable calls. Here are the other two referees sent home during the tournament.
FIFA officials sent home during World Cup
It is not uncommon for certain officiating crews to go home during the tournament as naturally the number of games begin to shrink after the first round. German Daniel Siebert was among the group sent home due to officiating mistakes between Uruguay and Ghana, where many, in Uruguay, question Siebert for not calling two supposed penalties in favor of the two-time champions.
Also sent home for poor decisions was Iranian ref Alireza Faghani, for a questionable handball called against Uruguay in their second group match against Portugal. The call came in the dying minutes of the match Portugal had well in hand and said penalty indirectly eliminated Uruguay from the World Cup.
In their first cuts of the tournament FIFA sent home 16 match officials, 30 assistant refs, and 5 VAR officials, the latter two were among those sent home while Antonio Mateu Lahoz was informed on Monday he was done in Qatar 2022.