Shaun Evans - FIFA disciplinary committee says no case to answer, no further action to be undertaken.
VAR official Shaun Evans statement:
“I would like to clarify that I did not intentionally make a hand gesture or symbol to communicate a message, affiliation, game or belief of any kind. The only explanation I can offer is that the movement was an involuntary, subconscious twitch and I was unaware I had done it at the time. Images taken later during the match showed that I repeated this movement many times while holding a pen between my fingers”
FIFA’s independent disciplinary committee said it looked into the matter and “found no evidence of breaches of the FIFA disciplinary code”.
“The disciplinary committee has also taken note of Mr Evans’s statement,” it said.
Saw this FB post today that following Japan’s 2-2 draw with Netherlands on Sunday, thousands of Japanese fans stayed behind to pick up the rubbish. They had been doing this at every international tournament since the Blue Samurai’s first appearance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.
England kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 4-2 win over Croatia in Dallas. Croatia twice came from behind to level the scores in the first half, but second half goals to Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford gave England all three points.
Earlier, Portugal were held to a 1-1 draw by DR Congo in Houston, with both goals scored before half time.
Caleb Yirenkyi scored deep into stoppage time to earn Ghana a 1-0 victory over Panama in World Cup Group L on Wednesday, local time, earning the African side a crucial three points in their bid to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 2010.
Two big margin wins in group B with Switzerland 4-1 victors over Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Swiss opened the scoring in the 74th minute), and Canada thrashing Qatar 6-0 in Vancouver. Qatar must beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final group match, and rely on other results to see if they could qualify to the knockout stages, as one of the best performing third place teams.
UPDATE: Canada’s win came at a huge cost, with midfielder Ismael Kone stretchered off the field with a broken left leg, after he was tackled by Qatari player Assim Madibo early in the second half. Kone was sent to hospital for surgery.
Mexico edged out South Korea 1-0 in the top of group A clash, after Czechia drew 1-1 with South Africa.
