Scotland’s tough World Cup loss on Friday did not come without controversy.
Late in their 1-0 defeat to Morocco, Scottish midfielder Scott McTominay got caught up under pressure from Neil El Aynaoui and wound up tripping and falling down on the pitch inside the goal box.
Although it appeared that El Aynaoui made contact with McTominay’s lower leg, referee Ilgiz Tantashev did not call a penalty, waving off protests for a penalty kick from the Scottish players.
The Fox broadcast also caught McTominay lying down with his arms out appearing flabbergasted that no penalty was called.
The video review team also did not intervene, something that former referee Christina Unkel said after the game was a mistake.
“The first thing you are looking for as a [Video Assistant Referee] is if there is any touch on that ball, and the answer is no,” she said on the ITV broadcast. “We saw that second replay there; that was exactly what I was looking for. There was no contact on the ball whatsoever.
“There is a trip up coming from behind that does contact his left lower leg. For this, I do think this is a missed incident for VAR to not recommend that for a penalty and the referee to not make the decision on the field for a penalty. I know this referee is calling a more physical game, but this is a very clear penalty.”
Broadcaster and former Scottish player Duncan Ferguson agreed with Unkel, saying that the penalty was clear.
“It was a penalty. There was a big touch, and McTominay goes down,” he said.
While the no-call and the loss are surely disappointing, Scotland coach Steve Clarke remains confident in his crew going forward.
“We gave them a game,” Clarke said. “We’re sure we can compete at this level.”
Scotland is set to face Brazil in its final Group C match on Wednesday, with Morocco taking on Haiti the same day.
