Recently, the enforcement standard of the World Cup referees has sparked heated debates, especially Argentina's star Mez's public bombardment of Spain's referee Maturajas after the last eight matches, which has put the professional image of the referees under scrutiny. In the semi-final match between Argentina and Croatia, FIFA decided to send Italian referee Osadu as the enforcer. Although Argentina once again faced European referees who raised questions about injustice, Osadu had enforced Argentina's victory over Mexico in this year's tournament, in which Mez also scored a goal, and thus the Argentine team was not expected to file a complaint before the match.
Portugal, England and other teams have been out of the game, have pointed the finger at the ball license, Portugal star Bono Fernandes and Bibi even implied that FIFA's ball license arrangement is "to help Argentina win the championship". However, according to Argentina's license arrangement in this tournament, it should theoretically be the "unfavorable" team, the previous two times to face the European teams Poland and the Netherlands, the license is the Dutch and the Spanish respectively. Now, in the third time to face the European team, Argentina still encountered the European card, failing to realize the principle of "same continent avoidance".
Nevertheless, Argentina have won their previous matches against Poland and the Netherlands, and should have confidence in Osadu's enforcement after he dominated Argentina's 2-0 win over Mexico in the group stage of the tournament, in which he showed five yellow cards, four of which were against Mexican players, and in which Mez also scored. Osadu was also responsible for the opening match, which was questioned for favoring hosts Qatar, who lost 0-2 to Ecuador.
