Morocco launch complaint about 'two obvious penalties' during World Cup semis

The Moroccan Football Federation has filed an official complaint against the referee for their World Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

The Atlas Lions were the first African nation to ever reach a semi-final in the tournament’s history, but fell to a 2-0 defeat to France and will now battle for third place against Croatia on Saturday – live on talkSPORT.

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Morocco aren’t best pleased with Ramos’s performance

However, despite being filled with pride after making history in the competition, Morocco aren’t pleased with the decisions made by the referee on the night, Cesar Ramos.

The Mexican official – who has been a full international for FIFA since 2014 – has been accused of denying ‘two obvious penalties’ during the first half of the clash.

“The FMRF has written to the relevant body to review the refereeing decisions that deprived the Moroccan team of two penalties that were indisputable in the view of several refereeing specialists,” the Moroccan ruling body said in a statement.

“The FMRF was equally astonished that the video assistant referee (VAR) did not react to these situations.”

The FMRF were unhappy that Ramos opted not to award a penalty in the first half to the North Africans when France star Theo Hernandez made contact with Sofiane Boufal in the box.

Instead, the official gave Morocco’s winger a yellow card for a foul.

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Boufal was outraged when he was booked for this incident instead of being awarded a spot kick

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They second moment they took issue with the taking down of substitute Selim Amallah in the area as he awaited the delivery of a set-piece.

VAR wasn’t introduced during either of the incidents.

talkSPORT presenter Adrian Durham who was the game at the Qatar’s Al-Bayt thought the Atlas Lions were unlucky to not get through to the finals, given they were the better team on the night.

“Morocco are the winners tonight in all but the result. Their fans have been magnificent. Their fans have shown some true emotion and travelled in numbers,” he said.

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Football fans think Morocco were unlucky not to make the World Cup final

“This is going to hurt Moroccan football and those players for a long time. 

“They’ve united the Arab world. That in itself is an achievement. Here they are, unlucky losers tonight.”

Meanwhile, Morocco boss Walid Regragui said after the final whistle: “The most important thing is to have shown a good face, to have shown that football in Morocco exists and that we have great supporters.”

France will now face Argentina in the World Cup final on Sunday at 3pm.

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Originally Posted By Talk Sport