Former Argentina star Diego Maradona criticized FIFA yet again for its stance on referees following the quarterfinal match between Brazil and Colombia, which saw the latter team eliminated 2-1.The foul-ridden game inspired Maradona’s rant on his TV show, “De Zurda.” The Argentine legend linked referee Velasco Carballo, who called a very poor game, with an alleged plan from FIFA to help the host nation advance to the semifinals. According to this conspiracy theory, FIFA wants Brazil to win their sixth championship at all costs.”I think they made a great choice with the referee, especially in those crucial moments when Colombia had the better chance in winning the game,” the former World Cup champion said.Maradona also accused David Luiz of “systematically trying to injure James Rodriguez by fouling him six times and the ref never once pulled out a card.””This is the worst ref I have seen in the last 10 years,” he declared before saying that both Hulk and Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar should have received red cards during the match.Continuing with this sentiment, the Argentine believed that Brazil did not deserve its semifinal berth and criticized FIFA exclusively and their “dictator,” Sepp Blatter for the supposed plan to “let pass” their “buddies” to the semis.”The agreement is going to be done on the pitch … as long as everything goes to plan on the pitch, then everything becomes much clearer for ‘the dictator’ to say ‘see, we let Brazil move on,'” he declared.Maradona admitted that he might be wrong but then said that FIFA’s admiration towards the referee was “bull” and the organization should have given respect to the Colombian players and their fans.
