What happened between Uruguay and England has happened before, dating back to the 2006 World Cup. England’s friendly with Uruguay was marred by controversial refereeing decisions, especially an incident in the second half at Wembley that recalled Graham Poll’s infamous mistake.
In the 2006 World Cup, English referee Graham Poll issued three yellow cards to Croatia’s Josip Šimunić during the match against Australia. Poll booked him in the 61st and 90th minutes but failed to send him off, only showing a red card after a third yellow in added time.
A similar confusion occurred in the England vs Uruguay friendly. After the match, one of the linesmen reportedly stated that the first yellow card was not for the Uruguayan player, while match officials later claimed the second yellow card had been rescinded. This has been described as a clear refereeing blunder, which the referee has refused to admit.
If such an incident had happened in Africa, it would have been much louder, especially considering past cases where matches have been ended before the 90 minutes due to controversies.
Softfootball notes that it is unnecessary to drag Manchester United into the situation, as the club has no involvement. The issue is purely a refereeing error, and attention should instead be directed toward UEFA and FIFA for accountability.
