Women’s World Cup: England coach claims refs go easy on Canada

Sounds like someone is trying to soften up the officials to gain a competitive advantage.

England coach Mark Sampson says he hopes the referees give his team a fair shake against Canada in Saturday’s FIFA Women’s World Cup quarter-final (4:30 p.m., CTV) at BC Place.

“We just want a fair crack of the whip from the referee,” Sampson told The Guardian. “But aggression’s part of the game. This England team has it and we’ll make sure we’re physically ready for a huge, huge challenge.”

Sampson claims Team Canada has been catching breaks all tournament.

Without a shadow of a doubt we’re playing the most aggressive team in this tournament … Whether they’re overly aggressive is open to interpretation. We’re all aware of the big refereeing decisions that have gone their way. They’ve been given a very dubious penalty [in the opening game against China] and we can look at the fouls that have been awarded against them … We’ve got a qualified referee on our staff and, looking back at the games, he says at least quadruple the number of fouls they’ve actually been penalised for could have been awarded against them. I hope the match referee realises there’s 22 players and two teams on the pitch.”

This was the “dubious penalty” against China.

Adriana Leon received a forearm to face from Zhao Rong in the 92nd minute of the tournament’s opening game, June 6, in Edmonton. Christine Sinclair converted the penalty to give Canada 1-0 win.

Sampson also took some shots at his Canadian counterpart, John Herdman.

John Herdman.

I’m sure I’ll see John out and about in his tight shirts and his Ray-Bans in the next day or two. I get on really well with him. John’s a good guy. He works hard. He works in his own unique way and puts a team on the field that reflects him – although we’ve got to remember it’s the players who are the stars of the show, not the managers. — Sampson