Mateu Lahoz has been ruled out to whistle the World Cup final in Qatar. The Spanish referee did not make the cut and returns to Spain after his refereeing in the quarterfinals between the Netherlands and Argentina, where he broke the record for yellow cards shown in a World Cup match, a total of 18 yellow cards plus one red.
The meeting between the Oranje and Scaloni's pupils became a carousel of fouls, protests and even tanganas. Chaos reigned, especially when Paredes shot violently against the bench led by Louis Van Gaal in the 89th minute. The tension reached the penalties, where the Dutch tried to put pressure on the Argentine shooters and then the South Americans celebrated their victory in front of the disappointment of their rivals.
In the mixed zone, the Valencian referee was the center of criticism from the players of the Netherlands team, as expressed by the Barcelona player Frenkie De Jong, and despite the victory of the albiceleste also from the Argentine players. Mateu Lahoz did not leave either team happy in a match that lasted more than two hours.
"FIFA has to consider it. You can't put a referee like that in this instance, for a match with such equality, so important. It's not up to par. People saw what it was like, we were afraid before the game because we knew what it was", complained the Argentine captain, Leo Messi, after the duel against the Dutch.
Mateu Lahoz has been in the last two World Cups, in Russia in 2018 and now in Qatar, where he has led three games. He refereed the group stage matches between the hosts Qatar and Senegal, which ended with a Senegalese victory (0-3), and then Iran-United States, with a North American victory (0-1). Subsequently, the aforementioned Netherlands-Argentina arrived.
The Valencian, who also refereed three matches in the group stage of the last Euro Cup, returns to Spain with his assistants Pau Cebrián and Roberto Diaz. The Spanish representation in Qatar is maintained with the VAR referees De Burgos Bengoechea, Hernández Hernández and Martínez Munuera.
