Discussion on Referee Decisions in Sports

But all I did, all I did, I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul.

And, you know, again, I'm good at this stuff. I didn't think it was a foul. I thought it was

two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a

guy punching somebody in the face or anything that, you know, would be different. And I think

it's a terrible — if they wouldn't allow, you know, a top player — maybe the best,

maybe among the best players on the team to play, I think it would have had a big stain.

And I related just that feeling. I didn't tell him what to do. I can't tell him what to do. But

— and I don't believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision.

And they made the right decision because, number one, it wasn't a foul.

And you want to see a game with your best players. You don't want to say,

How would you feel if I took — you know, we take Messi out. Look, you know, he ran into somebody.

Or we took Ronaldo. Ronaldo, you bunked into somebody. We're going to take you out of a game.

He's great. Or Harry Kane. Harry Kane, we're going to take you out of the game, Harry, because

you happened to hit somebody a little bit harder than — you can't — you can't do that.

If you would have taken him out, I think — I think it would have really stained this

incredible champion. We got to have our best players. And they've got — Belgium has got a

great team, by the way. We have our best players, and they have to have their best. And if we win

or we lose, it's fair. Otherwise, let's say we lost him and we lose the game. It would be a

terrible thing. So I think they made a really brilliant decision. I think the referee's call

was horrible. And nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it's fine.

Nobody talks — the referee's decision to red card. I didn't know what the hell a red card was.

When I found out, I said, you got to be kidding. This guy just hands up. Okay, your best player

is not going to play next week or in the next game. I said, wow, that's a lot of power. That's

terrible. But then I looked at his past, and it wasn't so great. Okay.