2022 FIFA World Cup
Gareth Southgate Seeking ‘Dialogue’ With FIFA Following Harry Maguire’s Decision

England coach Gareth Southgate have sought clarification from FIFA on penalty decisions following inconsistencies from officials at the World Cup in Qatar.
England was denied a spot-kick after Harry Maguire was blatantly hauled to the ground during the 6-2 win over Iran on Monday before the Iranians were awarded a late penalty following a somewhat less obvious shirt-pulling incident involving Eric Dier.
When looking to get on the end of a corner, Harry Maguire was pulled down by an Iran defender inside the box.
The referee didn’t give a penalty and VAR opted not to intervene. They did however decide to do so at the other end, awarding Iran a penalty at the end of the match for what seemed a far less clear-cut foul.
Southgate is worried by the calls, fearing that, as England were used to show an example of foul play in a refereeing meeting before the tournament, they’re being held to stricter standards.
“What worries me is we were used in an example in the referee’s video. And what we were shown, the Harry Maguire incident in the first half, we were told that would be a definite penalty,” the England manager said.
“In the second half, maybe there’s a shirt pull, we’ve got to be better on that, but I’m a bit worried we were the example shown, and then to get a decision as happened in the first half, we need some clarification really as to how it’s going to be.
“We’ve got to have that dialogue with FIFA and just make sure…we want clarity, otherwise, we don’t know where we stand.”
Southgate also discussed the balance he wants to find between allowing his players to meet with their families in Qatar and controlling the risk of Covid transmission. Some of the players went into the stands after the Iran game to hug their loved ones.
Southgate was asked whether there had been full access to families for the England Women team during their victorious European Championship campaign in the summer. “That wasn’t quite how it was with the girls,” he replied. “Towards the end, they had to batten that down a bit more because they had a few positive cases.
“We’re going to have to monitor it throughout but also there’s this balance of the spirit and happiness of the group and the medical line of zero risk. Sometimes if you’re going to take zero risks it can kill it for everybody. We’re going to see how the next few days go and we’ve talked about maybe looking at something after the second game [against USA on Friday]. We’ve got to monitor the [Covid] rates out here as much as anything else.”