"My refereeing in Spain v South Korea game was excellent"

The 2002 World Cup match between Spain and South Korea is a game most Spain fans will never forget. That quarter-final defeat still hurts despite the fact plenty of years have gone by and that both Spain and the players involved have won many trophies since then. 

On Wednesday, it will 20 years since it took place. To commemorate it, 'Marca' got an interview with Gamal Ahmed Al-Ghandour, the Egyptian referee who caused so much controversy with his performance. 

"Spanish people cannot blame me for that defeat against Korea because, before the end of the game, they had several clear opportunities. They could have won the game before the penalty shootout. Only the referee gets judged sometimes the decisions are made by our assistants. I stick to what I said: I had an excellent performance. In fact, FIFA gave me 8.7 out of 10 that day," the former referee said. 

In fact, he highlighted in his opinion, the only mistake he and his assistants made, in his opinion. "Analysing the incidents, for me there is only one debatable decision and that is the disallowed goal as Joaquin's cross may not have gone out of play. That is the main point of discussion."

"The mistakes made by my assistants should not count against me," he added. It is worth remembering that Camacho's men had two goals disallowed in total. This, as well as an important amount of controversial decisions meant the match went to a penalty shootout. Joaquin was the only one to miss. 

He then concluded talking about when he was involved in Spanish programme "Los Otros" on pay channel Movistar +. "In 2019, I visited Spain for a TV programme and I believe that, since then, my public image in the country changed and Spanish people could see that I didn't make a mistake. They were clearly made by my assistants. I believe that Spain fans' perception changed after that programme."