Premier League ref Anthony Taylor at centre of World Cup storm as he’s accused of being ‘unfair’ by furious South Korea
ANTHONY TAYLOR was at the centre of a Qatar storm after being accused of showing “a lack of fairness” to furious South Korea.
The Premier League’s top referee, making his World Cup debut, showed a red card to raging Korean coach Paulo Bento at the end of Korea’s controversial 3-2 defeat by Ghana.
Bento was fuming when Taylor refused to allow his team to take a corner before blowing the final whistle after ten minutes of stoppage time.
And his Portuguese assistant Sergio Costa blasted: “I was right by Paulo when he reacted at the end and he said absolutely nothing that was inappropriate to the ref.
“It was a completely different criteria which the referee used to deal with the two teams.
“At the end of the first-half he allowed a very similar situation for Ghana to be played.
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"Then at the end of the second-half we had a corner for one last opportunity to equalise and the ref took it away from us.
“There was a lack of fairness and the whole group was sad because we were feeling the lack of justice.
“Paulo is an emotional person and he defends his own with every last drop of his energy. We all understand his reaction because there was an absence of fairness and that leads to human reactions.”
The defeat leaves Korea bottom of Group H and Bento will now be banned for his team’s crucial last game against Portugal on Friday.
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Costa added: “Paulo is a great manager and his presence on the day will be a big loss.
“But we will continue to prepare in the same way and his strategy will not fail us. His absence will unite us all to compete and play an aggressive game against Portugal.”
Fans familiar with Taylor's exploits in the Premier League offered their takes on the incident which saw an incensed Bento sent off following his protest.
One user said: "Anthony Taylor chose violence blowing up before that corner was taken."
A second user said: "I’m very much here for Paulo Bento giving Anthony Taylor both barrels. We’ve all felt like doing it at some point over the years."
A third added: "South Korea got that referee under pressure. Manager just got a red card. So happy to see the terror of Anthony Taylor going global."
Another said: "Anthony Taylor is making himself bigger than the game again."
"Anthony Taylor showing the world why everyone hates English refs," said another.
The decision had left the Taegeuk Warriors fuming due to them being denied the opportunity to take a corner after seeing the ball deflect out of play off of a Ghana defender.
Korea have just one point after drawing with Uruguay in their opener.
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Meanwhile, Portugal hung on to beat Ghana in another thrilling contest which saw Cristiano Ronaldo become the first player to ever score at five World Cups.
Should Portugal win later today they will have confirmed their spot in the last 16 and could see them rotate their team, but a loss will make their final group game against Korea a must win.