FIFA says it strongly rebukes comments made by its ambassador Diego Maradona criticising American referee Mark Geiger's handling of England's win against Colombia in the World Cup round of 16 on Tuesday. It's the third controversy involving the Argentina great at the World Cup, which he has mostly attended as a VIP guest of FIFA.
Uruguay has passed this Saturday to the quarterfinals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia after beating Portugal 2-1.
Mbappé is the man of the day. The player of the Paris Saint Germain (PSG) was the great figure of the game in which France surpassed by 4-3 to Argentina and advanced to the quarters of the 2018 Russia’s World Cup. With two goals from Mbappé, one from Pavard and a penalty from Griezzman, the “Bleus” beat the Argentine selection. Di María, Mercado and Agüero where the authors of the Argentine goals.
Argentina's former football star Diego Maradona has issued a bounty worth 300,000 pesos (US$10,800 / £8,300) to find the journalist responsible for reporting fake news regarding his death, according to Infobae.
Over 700.00 foreign football fans have visited Russia for the World Cup, according to Russian and FIFA officials. World Cup 2018 CEO Alexey Sorokin and FIFA’s chief competitions and events officer Colin Smith, at an event in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, reported on operational aspects of the World Cup so far.
FIFA says stats from 48 games point to success of the Video Assistant Referee system debuting at the World Cup. At a briefing in Moscow on Friday, FIFA Referees' Committee chairman Pierluigi Collina underscored the importance of VAR in guiding refereeing decisions at the Russia World Cup; it’s the first time the technology has been used at the quadrennial tournament.
Argentina’s Diego Maradona has come out to defend Lionel Messi after the Barcelona attacker missed a penalty in his team’s draw against Iceland on Saturday. Speaking to Telesur, the 1986 World Champion said: ”I missed five penalties in a row and I was still Diego Armando Maradona.
With four months to go before the football World Cup, both Russia and FIFA want toavoid any surprises. Hence the meeting on Feb.12 between Russian President VladimirPutin and FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the Kremlin to discuss World Cuppreparations.
The former investment banker at Goldman Sachs became the new president of U.S. Soccer on Feb. 11. He replaces Sunil Gulati after an election in Orlando, Florida that required three rounds of voting to finally crown Cordeiro.
A Peruvian football official accused of taking bribes has been cleared by a jury in the United States. Manuel Burga, who led football in Peru until 2014, was accused of taking cash in exchange for distributing marketing and media rights to matches. Two other South American football officials were convicted by the same jury on Friday.