Referee Szymon Marciniak was hailed for his performance in 2022 World Cup final (Photo by ANP via Getty Images)
World Cup 2022 final referee Szymon Marciniak believes that he made one error during Argentina’s win over France in Qatar.
Marciniak became the first Pole to officiate the biggest game in world football last Sunday and received plenty of applause from pundits and fans for his performance.
Given how Qatar 2022 also saw some rather shocking refereeing decisions, not least in England’s quarter-final exit to France, it was truly fantastic to see Marciniak remain calm and composed throughout the 120 minutes.
Among his highlight, he rightfully awarded three penalties, booked French striker Marcus Thuram for diving and barely had to consult VAR.
However, the 41-year-old has since stated that the match was not perfectly refereed and while no ‘big’ mistakes were made, he feels there was one decision he would have made differently in hindsight.
‘Of course, there were mistakes in this final,’ he Sport.PL.
‘I interrupted the French counter-attack after a bad tackle by Marcos Acuna.
Not playing advantage for Marcos Acuna’s foul is Marciniak’s only regret from the final (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
‘I was afraid that the fouled player wanted to unwind, and I read it wrong because nothing happened, and you could give an advantage and then come back with a card.
‘It’s hard. In a game like this, I take such a mistake in the dark. The important thing is that there were no big mistakes.’
While this counter-attack would almost certainly not have affected the outcome of the match, that hasn’t stopped a petition in France calling for the final to be replayed gaining over 200,000 signatures.
However, the petition makes no mention to Acuna’s foul, and is rather based on two baseless grievances with Argentina’s first two goals.
L’Equipe have also stated that Lionel Messi’s injury time goal should not have counted because some of Argentina’s substitutes had encroached onto the pitch in celebration before the ball had crossed the line.
But Marciniak hit back at the French newspaper over this claim, even pulling up a picture that showed Les Bleus’ bench doing the exact same thing for one of Kylian Mbappe’s goals.
He added: The French didn’t mention this photo, where you can see how there are seven Frenchmen on the pitch when Mbappe scores a goal.’
MORE : FIFA orders inquiry after Salt Bae gatecrashed 2022 World Cup final celebrations in Qatar
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He also hit back at France’s criticism of his performance.
