The England-France arbitration will bring a tail. The team led by Gareth Southgate felt harmed by the Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio and by the VAR in two controversial actions at the Al Bayt stadium, where both teams closed the surprising World Cup quarterfinal qualifiers.
England's first protest came in the 17th minute, when Real Madrid midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni put the reigning champions ahead with a cross shot from just outside the box that rendered Jordan Pickford's lunge useless. The play was preceded by a resounding free kick from Dayot Upamecano to Bukayo Saka on the other side of the field. However, the action was not reviewed and the goal went up on the scoreboard.
After the 0-1 draw, England reacted carrying the weight of the game, but Hugo Lloris saved his team with two good saves against a Harry Kane who protested, in the 24th minute, a penalty from Upamecano. The action is confusing since the kick that the Tottenham forward receives in the calves of his right leg begins a few centimeters before he enters the area. The offense continues and Kane ends up knocked down, but neither the referee nor the video arbitration indicated the maximum penalty.
As soon as the second half began, the penalty spot was awarded for Tchouaméni's unfortunate entry into Saka when the Arsenal footballer dribbled past the French midfielder. Kane, from eleven meters, equalized the game.
Following Olivier Giroud's goal in the 78th minute, the Three Lions would still have a chance to redeem themselves after a Lucas Hernández penalty for a charge on Jason Mount. This time Kane, who in this match had equaled Wayne Rooney as England's all-time top scorer (53), sent the ball into the stands. England falls, France follows.
Southgate was satisfied with the meeting between his players despite saying goodbye to Qatar and did not go into assessing the referee's performance. “It doesn't make sense for me to get into it. I prefer to talk about our players. Congratulations to France, you know you've been to a great game. I really don't think we could have done anything more."
