Top referee Kuipers in charge of quarter-final
Fifa’s top referee, Bjorn Kuipers, was last night appointed for England’s World Cup quarter-final against Sweden on Saturday.
The Dutchman is the front runner to be awarded the final and has already overseen three matches in Russia, including the hosts’ penalty shoot-out victory against Spain.
That was his sixth World Cup game, his first being England’s 2-1 defeat by Italy four years ago. If that appears a bad omen, he also took charge of their Under-20 World Cup win over Venezuela last year.
Kuipers refereed the 2014 Champions League final, this season’s Europa League final, the 2011 Uefa Super Cup final and the 2013 Confederations Cup final.
At this World Cup, he used video technology to change his mind about awarding a penalty to Neymar in Brazil’s win over Costa Rica, although he controversially did not book him for diving.
He represents a major upgrade on Mark Geiger, who was heavily criticised for losing control of England’s last-16 win over Colombia.
The nail-biting run to the quarter-finals has earnt England an unlikely supporter – Germany legend Lothar Matthaus.
Matthaus, who helped trigger the spot-kick curse the Three Lions finally lifted, revealed yesterday that he was backing his own country’s greatest footballing rivals to go all the way in Russia.
The man who captained West Germany to World Cup glory in 1990, after they inflicted England’s first defeat on penalties in an epic semi-final, said: “Yesterday, I was supporting England because I like the style they’ve played these last two years and I became a little bit of a fan when they won the friendly against Germany in Berlin, 3-2 [in 2016]. I started to get the feeling that this team could be dangerous in the next few tournaments.”
He added: “The national team profited from the national coaches working regularly with these young players and you can see how they have improved. That’s why England are still in the World Cup – and they learned to shoot penalties! Before, they didn’t believe in themselves.”