Michael Oliver risks losing the World Final if Argentina goes

Oliver, 41-year-old, is one of seven Premierliga officials who are in North America for this World, and is considered one of the top favourites to take the lead in the final.

However, FIFA rules determine that judges cannot conduct matches where their country's national play. That would automatically exclude Oliver in case England reached the finals.

But, according to “BBC”, Oliver could not be assigned even if the finale included Argentina because of the sensitivity associated with the 1982 Falkland Islands War.

For the same reason, another English judge Anthony Taylor lost the opportunity to lead the 2022 World Cup final.

In the same way, Argentinan judges are not assigned to England's matches, as FIFA considers neutrality one of the most important principles in appointing referees.

Oliver will lead his seventh match in this World Cup, when Spain faces Belgium in the quarterfinals, becoming the Englishman with mostly arbitrary matches in the history of the tournament.

After the dramatic 3-2 victory over Egypt on Tuesday evening, Argentina players celebrated in the dressing rooms singing a song that mentioned the Falkland Islands.

The term “Malvinas” was used in the song, the name by which Argentina refers to the Falkland Islands. In 1982, in Argentina's attempt to recover this territory from the United Kingdom, 649 Argentinan military men perished.

Oliver is not the only English official in this world, but is considered the main candidate to lead the final.

Anthony Taylor is also part of the list of judges in the tournament.

Meanwhile, England is also represented by assistants Stuart Burt, James Mainwaring, Gary Beswick and Adam Nun.

There is also Jared Gillett, the Australian who referees at Premierliga, who is engaged as VAR official.

This World has accompanied much controversy over arbitration decisions, which are considered unstable in action.

Egypt's coach, Hossam Hassan, has made strong accusations after losing Argentina, claiming his team was treated unjustly for commercial reasons.

Egypt remained angry after a goal was cancelled when the score was 1-0, after VAR decided that Marwan Attia had made a history of Lisandro Martinez at the start of the action.

The Egyptians also claimed that Mohammed Salah was stumbled in Argentina's penalty area just before the decisive goal.

We were better than Argentina, but football is not always right and what happened was unfair, despite the FIFA's defense of the motto Fair Play”, Hassan said.

The judge cancelled one of our goals and we don't know why. The result could have become 3-1, but then Argentina equalled”, he added.

Then the Egyptian coach declared:

I don't like losing, but it was an unfair loss. There are also factors outside the field that do not relate to technicality.

It is possible that marketing reasons have affected them. They do not want Mess to be eliminated, they want the world champion to continue in the race.

World champions received support at every level. Looks like there's been pressure from the Argentinian side on that score”.

Another major controversy in this World was FIFA's decision to allow Folier Balog to play in the United States' 4-1 defeat of Belgium in the 1/8th of the final.

The striker was punished with red card directly in the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but his suspension was postponed after US President Donald Trump contacted FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

England has also been involved in arbitration debates, as coach Thomas Tuchel criticised the fact that three VAR officials from South America were assigned to win 3-2 over Mexico.

It's not good enough. Judges are not good enough, nor are fourth officials. That's the truth.

Three people from South America in a game like this. THE woman intervened, but was it really a clear and clear error for the penalty? Absolutely not. They changed a situation in which the judge had not even awarded a foul. Judges were not at the right level”, Tuchel said.

Meanwhile, even FIFA's decision to appoint a fully silverite team of judges for the quarterfinals between France and Morocco has been met with surprise by many fans and analysts. /Periscope/