France's narrow win over Paraguay was overshadowed by the 'dark arts' and what pundits described as 'disgraceful' tactics, but the referee has also come under fireJordan Seward06:32, 05 Jul 2026Updated 06:32, 05 Jul 2026FIFA are facing calls to suspend referee Ilgiz Tantashev after he failed to book a single Paraguay player in their fiery defeat to France. World Cup fans were up in arms over his performance, with Tantashev being accused of having 'no interest' in applying the laws of the game or protecting players.‌France players escaped without any serious injuries but were targeted heavily as Paraguay deployed combative tactics, with aggressive challenges flying in regularly. There were also several flashpoints in the match, which ended in unsavoury scenes as both teams clashed after Paraguay expressed their anger at being knocked out.‌BBC pundits Joe Hart and Thomas Hitzlsperger pulled no punches as they slammed the behaviour of Paraguay, branding them a 'disgrace'. Despite committing 12 fouls, referee Tantashev, who has been a FIFA-listed official for 13 years, brandished no yellow cards to the South American side during the 90 minutes.‌Three French players were, however, booked during the match. World Cup fans took to social media in their droves to call out the Uzbeki official for failing to control the match, with many labelling him 'incompetent' and calling for a suspension."Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev with an extraordinary performance. No interest in refereeing, no interest in applying the laws of the game, no interest in player welfare or well-being. France very fortunate to avoid serious injuries," one fan wrote.Another added: "That was one of the worst referee performances I have ever seen at any level," while a third said: "Not 1 yellow card for Paraguay [laughing face emoji]. Shocking performance from the ref."‌Get the latest World Cup news straight to your inbox by _signing up to our Make Football Great Again newsletter now!Others called for FIFA to take action. "Ilgiz Tantashev needs a red card and suspended for the rest of the World Cup. How can he seriously not think Paraguay deserved a booking?" one said.A second wrote: "Ilgiz Tantashev and the VAR officials on duty should be suspended. That was the worst officiating I've seen in this World Cup," while a third added: "Shame on you, Referee Ilgiz Tantashev. Why allow an incompetent referee to officiate football at this level?"‌France ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a 70th-minute penalty from Kylian Mbappe to set up a quarter-final showdown with Morocco, but the story was about Paraguay after the final whistle. Former Premier League star Hitzlsperger admitted he had lost respect for the Paraguay team after the match, while Hart was left disgusted and tore into them.Paraguay players clashed with Mbappe on several occasions, with the 27-year-old, who is now joint top scorer at this tournament with Lionel Messi on seven goals, even refusing to shake hands with goalkeeper Orlando Gill at full-time, who in turn threw the ball at him in a burst of frustration.‌Hart defended France's talisman's behaviour on the BBC after he largely managed to keep his cool, and was also critical of the referee. He said: "I absolutely love how [Mbappe] he's behaved in this game, because they have come for him from minute one," he said. "And towards the end when he was just laughing at the Paraguayan players, that is... He's allowed to be arrogant because he is brilliant, but the Paraguayan players were an absolute disgrace tonight."If they were on my team I'd be dragging half of them off the pitch. I would never want to win that way, I would never want to play football that way and the referee didn't help in any of the circumstances.‌"The fact that not one Paraguayan was booked inside the 90 minutes today is absolutely astonishing. Fair play to France, you can see what it means. Sometimes you can play beautiful football, pass people off the park - but when you grind out a win as a team and get that win as they did tonight? Superb."Thierry Henry, meanwhile, insisted it was a 'victory for football' after France progressed. " Football won," the 1998 World Cup winner declared.Article continues below"I don’t want to talk about Paraguay. I want to talk about what France did. How they stayed composed. How Kylian Mbappe was laughing at the end. How a lot of the players didn’t react to the provocation, although they finished — I think we took three yellow cards, and one at the end for Paraguay."But at the end of the day, that’s the World Cup, that’s how it is. It’s not always going to be easy. But well done, they stayed calm, it was very difficult, but like I said, football won.”