The story appears on

Page A4

July 6, 2014

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Soccer

Referee lost control of game, says Rodriguez

COLOMBIAN star James Rodriguez claimed Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo had been a decisive influence as his country’s World Cup dreams ended with a 2-1 quarterfinal defeat to Brazil on Friday.

Rodriguez extended his lead as the competition’s top scorer with a penalty 10 minutes from time to register his sixth goal in five games.

“Unfortunately, the referee didn’t help a lot,” said Rodriguez, who had been singled out for some rough treatment by the Brazilian players.

Fernandinho was particularly culpable as he hacked down Rodriguez three times in the first-half alone without being booked by Carballo.

“I think the referee influenced the game a lot, but that is how it is and we need to look forward.

“We are sad because we wanted to go further in the World Cup. That is what hurts most, but Brazil are a good team.”

Colombia coach Jose Pekerman praised his side for the style in which they approached the tournament.

“We came here to play a great World Cup and didn’t consider it sufficient to just participate. That is the most important thing I can say about this squad.”

Pekerman refused to lambast Carballo despite his apparent reluctance to clamp down on Brazil’s roughhouse tactics as they committed 31 fouls.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend