Moscow: Diego Maradona has apologised for questioning the impartiality of the referee in charge of England’s last 16 penalty shootout win over Colombia.
The Argentina legend had landed himself in hot water with FIFA over his outburst at US official Mark Geiger when he described England’s win Tuesday as a ‘monumental robbery’.
But after a firm rebuke by football’s governing body the 1986 World Cup winner issued a mea culpa on Instagram. “Caught up by the excitement and support for Colombia the other day, I said some things that, I admit, are unacceptable.
“My apologies to FIFA and its president (Gianni Infantino): although I sometimes have opinions contrary to those of referees, I have absolute respect for the work – not easy – which (FIFA) and the referees do.”
Maradona, who had come out in support of Colombia following Argentina’s premature elimination, blamed Geiger for the South American side’s loss in an ill-tempered affair.
“I apologise to all the Colombian people, but the players are not to blame. Here is a gentleman (FIFA referees boss Pierluigi Collina) who decides to choose a referee who, if he had Googled him, (he would know) can’t be used for a match of this magnitude,” Maradona had told Venezuelan TV channel Telesur.
Geiger was suspended from international football for six months after several controversial decisions during a 2015 Gold Cup semifinal between Panama and Mexico.
FIFA had responded, saying it was ‘extremely sorry’ to read the comments from ‘a player who has written the history of the game’.
Kempes offers to coach Argentina
Buenos Aires: Hot on the heels of Diego Maradona, another Argentine World Cup winner has thrown his hat into the ring to become the next national team coach. “Of course!” he said when asked by current employers of ESPN, for whom he works as a commentator, if he would be interested in the job. “There’s a lot of work to do but there’s enough time to come up with a good project to tackle a very interesting challenge, and I’m sure it would win,” said Kempes, who scored twice in the final of the Albiceleste’s 1978 World Cup triumph. His assertion came just two days after 1986 World Cup winner Maradona offered to coach the team for free.