Royal Morocco Football Federation has filed an official protest against FIFA for the arbitral refereeing of César Ramos in France v Morocco semifinal clash.
The African pride, Morocco, was knocked out of the Qatar World Cup tournament after France defeated them 2-0 on Wednesday, December 14.
The Atlas Lions slammed the Mexican referee Cesar Ramos, claiming he had denied them ‘two obvious penalties’ during the first half of the semi-final clash.
Many football fans, especially Moroccans had earlier protested about Theo Hernandez’s possible penalty offence on Soufiane Boufal but Cesar Ramos turned a blind eye to it and surprisingly booked Boufal.
The action took place during the first half of the World Cup semi-final after Morocco was already 1-0 down, as Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech found space through France’s Theo Hernandez.
The French defender regained his stamina before he made a hard touch inside the box which led him to foul Sofiane Boufal.
Many expected the referee to punish France for the foul but the collision was given in favor of France, with referee Cesar Ramos penalizing the fouled player and handling Boufal a yellow card.
The second moment relates to Aurélien Tchouaméni holding Morocco’s substitute midfielder Selim Amallah after a corner kick.
VAR wasn’t introduced during either of the incidents, and neither did the Mexican referee showed interest.
France later sealed the victory with a second goal in what appeared as a frustrating match to the Moroccans, faults by the biased Mexican referee, Cesar Ramos.
In lieu of this, the Morocco Football Federation has issued its complaint to FIFA via an official statement released on Thursday, December 15.
The Moroccan ruling body said: “The FMRF has written to the relevant body to review the refereeing decisions that deprived the Moroccan team of two penalties that were indisputable in the view of several refereeing specialists.
“The FMRF was equally astonished that the video assistant referee (VAR) did not react to these situations.”
Meanwhile, speaking on BBC’s broadcast during the semi-final, former England captain Alan Shearer noted: “Not [a penalty] for me, no. Hernandez gets the ball there.”
But Rio Ferdinand countered this saying: “He does but… the other leg. I think anywhere else on the pitch and that’s a foul. So why’s it not a penalty?”
The knockout stages in the Qatar World Cup competition have been affected by several officiating controversies, with Argentina, England and Portugal all showing their vexations.
However, despite their defeat, Morocco has drawn a landmark no other African nation has ever made in World Cup history.
The Atlas Lions has made history by becoming the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final.
The Pride of Africa, Morocco will hope to secure a bronze in the Qatar World Cup competition as they will clash with Croatia for the third spot on Saturday, December 17.
