FIFA finally rebukes Maradona for criticizing referee
MOSCOW » FIFA’s patience with Diego Maradona’s World Cup antics finally ran out on Wednesday.
Soccer’s world body said it “strongly rebukes” comments by the Argentina great criticizing American referee Mark Geiger’s handling of England’s win against Colombia in the World Cup round of 16.
It was yet another controversial moment involving Maradona —an official FIFA ambassador and figurehead of its “Legends” program celebrating former players — at a World Cup he has mostly attended as a VIP guest of FIFA.
FIFA hit back at Maradona for telling Venezuelan broadcaster Telesur the outcome of Tuesday’s game in Moscow was a “monumental theft.”
Maradona had been photographed before the game wearing a yellow Colombia jersey.
England advanced to the quarterfinals in a penalty shootout in a feisty game slowed by stoppages and players arguing with Geiger, a former high school teacher from New Jersey.
FIFA said Maradona’s “insinuations” were “entirely inappropriate and completely unfounded.”
Ratings down in U.S.
MOSCOW » The lack of a U.S. team caused a big viewership drop for World Cup telecasts.
The 48 group stage broadcasts on Fox and FS1 averaged 2,069,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. That is down 42 percent from the 3.54 million average on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC four years ago and down 15 percent from the 2,429,000 average on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC eight years ago.
Excluding games involving the U.S. team in previous World Cups, the average declined 28 percent from the 2014 tournament in Brazil and was up 1 percent from the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
Real Madrid: Reports of Mbappe deal ‘completely false’
MADRID » Real Madrid has denied reaching an agreement to sign France forward Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain.
The Spanish club released a statement Wednesday calling reports of an agreement between Madrid and PSG “completely false.”
Madrid says it “has not made any offer to PSG or the player and condemns the spreading of this type of information that has not been proven by the parties concerned.”
The denial comes two days after Madrid dismissed a report that it had offered to buy Neymar from PSG for a world record transfer of $360 million.
It said the report by Spanish public broadcaster TVE was “absolutely untrue.”
PSG is under pressure from UEFA to raise cash from selling players. The French club needs to comply with “Financial Fair Play” rules which monitor overspending on transfers and wages.
PSG spent a record 222 million euros ($260 million) last year to buy Neymar from Barcelona.
UEFA warned the French champions three weeks ago they will “remain under close scrutiny” when they submit accounts for the financial year, which ended last Saturday.
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo hinted after the Champions League final that he may leave the Spanish club. He has not talked about his club future since joining Portugal for the World Cup.
European, South American referees picked for World Cup QFs
AP Photo XPAG198, XVG116, XRM469 MOSCOW » FIFA has picked European and South American referees to handle the World Cup quarterfinals that feature only teams from their regions.
The Uruguay vs. France game will be refereed by Nestor Pitana of Argentina on Friday in Nizhny Novgorod. It will be his fourth assignment, including the opening game.
Also Friday, the Brazil vs. Belgium game in Kazan will be handled by Milorad Mazic of Serbia. He handled the Champions League final in May.
FIFA says Brazilian referee Sandro Ricci will work Russia vs. Croatia on Saturday in Sochi. He handled Croatia’s first group-stage game against Nigeria.
The Sweden vs. England quarterfinal in Samara on Saturday will be the fourth game refereed by Bjorn Kuipers of the Netherlands.