Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente has sounded a warning to FIFA’s choice of referee ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final. It was confirmed earlier this week that Slovenia’s Slavko Vincic would officiate the showdown between Argentina and Spain. The 46-year-old took charge of Argentina’s 2-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia in Qatar four years ago, when he gave several contentious decisions in favour of the underdogs.
De la Fuente calls for strict officiating
While De la Fuente was not concerned that Vincic’s performance in that match would influence his decision making, he hopes Vincic will be wise to Argentina’s gamesmanship. Throughout the tournament, Lionel Scaloni’s side have been accused of turning to the dark arts to curry favour with referees, and also benefiting from a kind draw that limited their travel and avoided oppressive conditions.
“The referee cannot act passively and allow the rules to be broken,” De la Fuente told Sport. “Those lines of footballing legality cannot be crossed. I have unwavering faith in the referees, but I also have unwavering faith that we clearly know what kind of match we need to approach.”
Spain urged to keep calm
England and Egypt, in particular, struggled to keep their cool in the face of extreme provocation. De la Fuente conceded the onus is on Spain to maintain calm heads and focus on their footballing principles. “They’re going to play their football, but we have to focus solely and exclusively on our own, on strengthening our style and improving it. If we stray from our philosophy and our model, we will suffer. We feel comfortable in the football arena, in the game, in being true to our idea, in not falling for provocations,” he said.
Messi threat and past encounters
De la Fuente must also consider how to stop Lionel Messi from potentially saying farewell to the international stage in grand fashion. “I met Messi when I was coaching Sevilla’s youth teams,” he revealed. “We were 0-0 when they gave a card to the player marking him. They scored four on us in 15 minutes.”
Argentina goalkeeper Emi Martinez dismissed suggestions they had an easy path to the final. “We didn’t choose our opponents. We had to face Portugal in the quarterfinals, but Colombia dominated against Portugal. Switzerland beat Colombia, and we ended up playing Switzerland,” he said.
