FIFA is reportedly trying to hide footage of Moroccan defender Acraf Hakimi confronting governing body president Gianni Infantino after the third-place match against Croatia on Saturday night at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Morocco was furious and frustrated with some decisions made by Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim.
FIFA, however, is trying to downplay the confrontation that seemed to have occurred as Infantino waited to hand out the third-place medals to the Croatian players.
Post-match rant
STV Sports reporter Johan Kucukaslan, who witnessed the incident, reported that Hakimi was very loud in his post-match verbal tirade.
The journalist took his phone to film the incident, but apparently the FIFA staff did not appreciate the same. Kucukaslan said: “They wanted us to remove the images.
It is clear that these are embarrassing scenes for them, and it is a little naive of them to think that a dozen journalists should not report on this when we witness it happen.”
Several television reporters also saw Hakimi getting very close to the FIFA president raising his voice about the referred performance. However, tensions soon died down as other Moroccan players pushed PSG out of the picture.
questionable arbitration
The benchmark has been questionable at the World Cup with Infantino being booed on several occasions by fans when his image has appeared on giant screens throughout the tournament.
However, Hakimi later apologized to the FIFA president, saying: “Nothing happened, I was furious, but then I went to him and apologized for the words I said to him. Infantino is my friend and I respect him a lot. Nothing happened.”
Moroccan coach Walid Regragui later condemned his players’ behaviour, saying: “This is not the Moroccan way. Sometimes we overreact when a match ends. When you lose a game, you’re always disappointed. My players are very ambitious, but it wasn’t disrespectful.”
Photo credit: IMAGO / NurPhoto
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