England penalised more often by World Cup referees as new stats prove Argentina getting lenient treatment

England have received yellow cards more often than any of the World Cup quarter-finalists this summer.

New stats show how many fouls each team has committed per foul during the tournament so far.

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It proves the Three Lions have been penalised the most often out of the eight remaining sides.

Meanwhile, their quarter-final opponents Norway have received the most lenient treatment from the officials.

Defending champions Argentina, who England could face in the last four, have also benefitted from less card happy refereeing.

Yellow card numbers

Across their five matches at the World Cup so far, Thomas Tuchel’s side have committed a total of 54 fouls.

Those offences have resulted in seven bookings, with an average of 7.7 fouls committed per yellow card.

This represents the lowest amount of any quarter-finalist, with Morocco their closest rival on 10.2 fouls per card.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Norway have been treated most leniently during their run to the last eight.

Stale Solbakken’s side have received just two yellow cards despite committing 48 fouls.

As a result, they have been shown a card once for every 24 fouls committed.

After Norway, Argentina have the next highest average with three yellows from 59 fouls for a card every 19.7 offences.

AFP

Preferential treatment

It comes after the three-time winners’ controversial victory over Egypt on Tuesday night.

FIFA were accused of having a ‘pro-Argentina bias’ after Egypt were denied a goal by VAR for a foul in the build-up.

Argentina’s winner was then allowed to stand despite a similar incident occurring earlier in the move.

Ugly scenes erupted on the touchline after Enzo Fernandez’s header sealed their progression to the quarter-finals with a red card shown to Egypt goalkeeping coach Saafan El-Sagheer.

Manager Hossam Hassan then cited a severe injustice in the form of bias towards Argentina during a post-match interview.

Former England manager Sam Allardyce has weighed into the debate by admitting the tournament could be ‘rigged’ in Lionel Messi’s favour.

Speaking to World Cup Breakfast on Wednesday, he explained: “I’m sick of refereeing nearly from start to finish in this tournament.

“It just proves what’s happening when Donald Trump can interfere and get a decision changed and undermine the game completely.

“I’m not happy about the refereeing. I don’t think that was a foul [the foul on Martinez in the buildup to Egypt’s disallowed goal]. He trod on his toe, come on. He [Martinez] dove and squealed like a little baby.

“What about Salah? He [Mac Allister] stood on Salah’s toe in the penalty area in the last minute, so that’s got to be a penalty. It’s just absolutely diabolical, and you do wonder if its – I’ll say this and I probably shouldn’t really – but you do wonder whether it’s rigged. You do.

“And I’m a professional footballer who has done it all my life. But I look at it and I wonder, and I go ‘my god, what is happening? … I just don’t feel comfortable with it and the way it’s going.”

When do England play next?

England will take on Norway for a place in the semi-finals this weekend.

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The two sides meet in Miami on Saturday, with kick-off at 10pm BST and live on talkSPORT.

Either Argentina or Switzerland will await the winner in the last four on Wednesday, July 15.

As well as their bad luck with the officials, England are also currently without the suspended Jarell Quansah for the match against Norway.

The defender will serve a one-match ban following his red card in the last 16 victory over Mexico.

A further four players are at risk of missing a potential semi-final tie through suspension heading into the meeting with Norway.

Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly are all on a yellow card, with another on Saturday resulting in a one-match ban.

The yellow cards will be wiped after the quarter-finals, having also been cleared following the group stage.