Man City news: Ex-Fifa official lambasts Phil Foden as ‘histrionic’ footage emerges
Man City attacker Phil Foden was “lucky” to win the free-kick which led to England’s opening goal in their 3-0 win over Wales on Tuesday (29 November), according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee claimed Foden was guilty of “histrionics” and went to ground too easily.
As shown on the full match replay on BBC iPlayer, the 22-year-old went down after a challenge from Joe Rodon on the edge of the penalty area.
Marcus Rashford then scored directly from the free-kick to open the scoring.
“I really didn’t see that [as a foul],” Hackett said after analysing the footage with Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“I looked at it closely and I think it wasn’t a foul. It had all the histrionics of the players going to ground.
“When we talk about raising the bar on free-kicks and what we’ve witnessed in the lead-up to this game, I think this was a really harsh decision. I think the referee went safety first.
“This is the difficulty, VAR cannot come in and you’ve got players going to ground.
“It also highlights the difficulty for defenders when they’ve got a player coming towards them. They are, in the main, making accurate challenges but the player goes to ground too easily.
“I think this was a lucky free-kick for England. The referee judged it was a careless challenge but we can do no more. It’s his judgement, his call. VAR cannot come in and say he’s made a mistake.”
Foden doubled England’s lead just a minute after Rashford’s free-kick to mark his first World Cup start with a goal.
Rashford rounded off the victory with just over 20 minutes to go.
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