Mike Dean, a retired English official, has questioned the refereeing in Ghana’s 3-2 defeat to Portugal on Thursday in the 2022 World Cup.
Mohammed Salisu was penalised by American referee Ismail Elfath for making the least amount of contact with Cristiano Ronaldo, handing the Portuguese spotkick.
Elfath should have been given the opportunity to review the event at the pitch side Video Assistant Referee (VAR) monitor, according to Mike Dean, but that was not done.
Even though he normally supports officials, he claimed he could not defend the decision to award Portugal the penalty.
“The VAR, in my opinion, should have gotten involved, should’ve invited the referee over to have a look at it,” Dean told beIN Sports after the game.
He continued, “I like to back referees all the time, but you can’t support stuff like that. You can’t defend the undefendable.
“For me, it should’ve been overturned, he should’ve gone to the screen…100% it was wrong.”
n his press conference following the game, Ghana’s head coach Otto Addo also referred to the penalty as a gift from Ismail Elfath and expressed his displeasure with the referee’s handling of the situation.
