June 25 – Serbia have launched an official complaint about alleged bias by German referee Felix Brych in last Friday’s 2-1 World Cup defeat to Switzerland which seriously damaged their hopes of advancing.
The Serbian football association, in a statement on its website, said it submitted to FIFA “seven videos that clearly showed tendency in officiating of the referee Brych to the detriment of our national team.”
Serbian officials also complained that their team was not awarded a penalty for a second-half challenge by two Swiss defenders on Aleksandar Mitrovic and that Brych did not consult the Video Assistant Referee about the incident. Mitrovic was clearly manhandled in the area yet the culprits went unpunished.
The Serbs questioned not just Brych’s performance but the fact that he was appointed to handle the match at all.
“We are not clear how the German referee could have been appointed for the match between Switzerland and Serbia, when it is well known that one of Swiss confederation cantons is a German canton,” Serbia said in its statement.
FIFA announced later it had opened disciplinary proceedings against Slavisa Kokeza, president of the Serbian FA, and coach Mladen Krstajic for post-match comments. Krstajic, in particular, was scathing in his criticism of refereeing decisions.
But many will sympathise with the Serbs’ outrage at Brych’s failure to consult the VAR system which has made a number of correct decisions during the tournament but in too many cases has not been used when it should have been.
“At this World Cup, VAR has been used in all matches and its advantages have been applied to numerous disputable situations,” the Serbia FA statement said. “We are wondering why Serbia is the only team at the World Cup with the referee who would not even check the replay of the disputable situations, and all to the detriment of our team.”
Serbia midfielder Dusan Tadic continued the criticism on Sunday.
“We should not be looking for a problem elsewhere, but for sure the referee destroyed us,” said Tadic.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1714093020labto1714093020ofdlr1714093020owedi1714093020sni@w1714093020ahsra1714093020w.wer1714093020dna1714093020