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ARLINGTON, Texas — France coach Didier Deschamps had a question for the room full of reporters.
“I don’t want to answer about [the referee],” he said after Spain bounced his team out of the World Cup 2-0 in the semifinal. “I don’t want to say that just because we lost, but do you believe that the referee was up to the task to officiate a semifinal?”
While the choice of Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton for a game of this magnitude did raise some eyebrows when announced among those familiar with him from CONCACAF, it’s hard to argue officiating decided this match.
Barton awarded Spain a penalty after 22 minutes when French fullback Lucas Digne kicked Lamine Yamal while trying to play the ball, which seemed to be Deschamps’ main point of contention, though he refused multiple opportunities to confirm that.
While the call didn’t come on a scoring opportunity, it was a clear foul inside the penalty area. It might be harsh that the rule awarded Spain a penalty, but there is little disputing the interpretation of the rule itself was correct.
“Lucas is a pro. These things happen in football,” Maxence Lacroix said. “I think it should have been reviewed.”
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Lacroix and Rayan Cherki were the only two French players to speak to reporters after the match, with the rest of the team likely to pick up a fine for skipping the mandatory mixed zone.
Barton did seem to bizarrely overturn a foul toward the end of the first half after Ousmane Dembélé went down on the edge of the penalty area and Spain protested, and the reason was not immediately clear.
Nevertheless, the idea that the referee was the reason France lost is wrong on its face. Deschamps’ team never gained a foothold on the match and the 2-0 final, if anything, flattered the losers.
“Well, look at the match,” Deschamps said when asked to expand on his criticism.
Asked a second time, he only said, “I will not fall into debating that.”
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Barton was also at the center of controversy early in the tournament when he sent off Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón for covering his mouth during La Albirroja’s win over Turkey. His announcement of that decision immediately went viral on social media and the rule has otherwise not been invoked during the World Cup.
During a 2023 CONCACAF Nations League semifinal between the U.S. and Mexico, Barton handed out four red cards and ended the game with four minutes left in injury time due to anti-gay chanting from Mexican fans in the crowd.
Source: New York Post
