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Argentinian players Nicolás Otamendi and Leandro Paredes will escape FIFA sanction for mocking the Dutch stars after their penalty shootout victory… with the two main offenders in ugly scenes during the quarter-final clash.
- There were ugly scenes during Argentina’s penalty shootout victory against the Netherlands
- Nicolás Otamendi and Leandro Paredes were among the main offenders
- The couple is ready to escape punishment after taunting their opponents.
- Emi Martínez will also avoid a sanction for accusing the referee of partiality
Argentine players Nicolás Otamendi and Leandro Paredes will escape any FIFA sanction for mocking Dutch players for losing the penalty shootout that decided their World Cup quarterfinals.
Both were the main offenders in an embarrassing scene after what has become one of the most combustible encounters in world soccer. FIFA said on Saturday it had opened disciplinary proceedings against the Argentine federation, eight of whose players received yellow cards.
But this suggests that the joyous celebrations will not generate censorship. Neither will Argentine goalkeeper Emi Martinez’s allegation that the Spanish referee was biased in favor of the Dutch.
Argentina was accused of being poor winners when Nicolás Otamendi, Leandro Paredes, Gonzalo Montiel, Lionel Messi, Angel di Maria and Alexis Mac Allister made fun of the Dutch players.
Otamendi (pictured) and Paredes were seen as the main offenders during the embarrassing scenes.
“I just wanted them to score, that’s basically it,” Martinez said of the referee. ‘So I hope we don’t have him as a referee anymore. He is useless.
Although Argentina’s conduct has been widely condemned, Otamendi played down the criticism, saying the Dutch players, whose football association is also at the center of a disciplinary investigation, were trying to intimidate him and his teammates as they approached him. to the shots .
“I celebrated in their faces because there was a player from the Netherlands, who in every penalty kick we had would come and say things to one of our players,” said the former Manchester City defender.
Argentine journalists published images that appeared to show four Dutch players, Denzel Dumfries, Wout Weghorst, Noa Lang and Frenkie De Jong, all pulling away from their team on the halfway line and trying to unsettle Lautaro Martínez before his kick.
Dumfries, who was booked for this, admitted to the ruse. “They try to annoy each other, but they come and go,” he said. I don’t like to point fingers at other players, but I had my reasons. I don’t know if that was smart, but something happened that made me react.
The extraordinary scenes were caused by a late challenge by Paredes on Nathan Ake, with both feet off the ground, in the 88th minute. When he was penalized, the Juve player hit the ball into the Dutch bench, much to the fury of the coaching staff of Louis van Gaal.
Messi (left) broke away during an interview to try a Dutch referee, while Emi Martinez (right) accused the Spanish referee of showing bias towards his opponents in the quarter-finals.
Paredes walked away, as if nothing had happened, only to find the body stopped by a blow to the chest from Virgil van Dijk. Both players received yellow cards.
The worst of the scenes occurred at the end of the match when referee Antonio Lahoz showed Dumfries a red card and the Argentine assistant Walter Samuel a yellow card.
Aston Villa’s Argentine goalkeeper Martinez, who saved two shots from the penalty spot, was at the center of most of the acrimony, taunting the Dutch coaching staff and bench. ‘Keep your mouth shut you fucking idiot! I fucked you twice! he said.
Messi also strangely unleashed his fury on van Gaal’s staff, breaking up a television interview to yell at one of them: ‘What are you looking at? Scam!’
Messi pointed to Van Gaal for his direct tactics and said: “Van Gaal says that they [Holland] He plays football well but what he did was get into tall people and hit long balls. Messi faced Van Gaal, with assistant Dutch manager Edgar Davids playing peacemaker.
Pardedes (right) also caused wild scenes after kicking the ball into the Dutch bench.
The scenes reflect the way Argentina is under great psychological pressure to clinch a World Cup in what is likely to be Messi’s last tournament. The way they allowed the Dutch to rally from a 2-0 deficit reflects that mental fragility.
But the Dutch have a feud with Argentina that dates back to 1978. Argentina have never beaten them in 90 minutes at a World Cup, but they always seem to win in the end. Rob Rensenbrink scored in the dying seconds of the 1978 Buenos Aires final, leading the hosts into extra time which brought a 3-1 victory for the Argentines.
In 2014, the South Americans emerged from a tense semi-final by winning a penalty shootout 4-2 after a 0-0 draw.
Van Gaal had encouraged his players not to be afraid of Messi.
‘Am I having the shakes [at the prospect of facing him]?’ defenseman Jurrien Timber said in preparation. Luckily not.