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Updated 1 hour ago
The captain of the Czech football team, Tomáš Souček, after the defeat against Turkey, which meant elimination from the Euro, harshly criticized the performance of the Romanian referee István Kovács. Coach Ivan Hašek also joined. He says he has never seen a referee “pat” members of the winning team after the game.
“We all wanted to advance, we were so set for it. We started well. But now we’re disappointed that we didn’t do it. I think what happened is a disrespect to our country, it’s the third game. It’s unbelievable what dare to come to us,” said Souček in an interview with Czech Television.
He did not directly question the two yellow cards for Antonín Barák, but he demanded the same penalty for the young Turkish winger Kenan Yildiz, who was forgiven a second penalty for a dangerous elbow play shortly after the first yellow card by Kovács.
“There was a foul on Vláď Coufala, the opponent should also have received a second yellow card. It should be the same for both sides,” Souček added, pausing also over the goal of substitute Jan Kuchta, who could not pay because the referee prematurely blew the whistle for a questionable foul by the Czech attacker.
This is an absolute scandalous divorce
4x wrong decision in 3 seconds:
1. Handball by Kadioglu
2. no foul by Kuchta
3. Handball by Demiral
4. Scene whistled too early pic.twitter.com/hJcbHN6gBS— JM 🏴🇩🇪 (@JongBVB) June 26, 2024
“I don’t know what was there. I heard it should have been regular. Some can say we are making excuses for it, but others see that such moments affect the whole game,” the West Ham United player pointed out. According to him, Kovács wanted to be man of the match.
However, Souček acknowledged that there were many situations in the match that the Czechs should have handled better.
“It was very difficult to play with ten men. We knew it would be very difficult if we conceded. That happened in the end, but we managed to equalize. We pushed until the last minute, but in the end we conceded for the second time. Everyone did their best, morale he was huge there, but it ended with a sad ending,” the 29-year-old midfielder lamented.
“I have never experienced a referee slapping the players and officials of the opponent in the tunnel,” coach Ivan Hašek said on Czech TV.
At the press conference, the referee already gave a more moderate assessment.
“I won’t talk to the referee and I don’t want to comment. The referee is always right, there is no chance to change anything. I have to admit that I haven’t seen the two saves, how it looked. But I think there were far more saves in the match that could have been to evaluate with a yellow card. We went into the match with some strategy and the exclusion had a terrible effect,” ČTK quoted him as saying.
“I don’t want it to be written that we didn’t advance because of the referees and that we complain about them. We didn’t advance because we didn’t beat Georgia. That’s the main problem, then it could have looked different,” Hašek continued.
“It’s a failure. We’re going home, it’s sad. I’m angry, sad. I feel sorry for the boys, I think they played very well in today’s game. They played on the edge of self-harm, it’s a terrible shame,” the coach added.
2024-06-26 21:58:00
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