Schweinsteiger Slams Referees After Controversial World Cup Moment: "It Was a Joke"

France had a chance to open the scoring in the 27th minute after defender Noussair Mazraoui fouled Kylian Mbappé in the penalty area. The referees awarded a penalty, but Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou easily saved the star striker's shot, which was headed for the right post.

However, the penalty kick itself was preceded by a wait of over three minutes. This was due to an unusually long VAR review conducted by the Argentine referee team of Facundo Tello and Hernan Mastrangelo.

The lengthy deliberation caused frustration on the French side. During the wait, the Real Madrid forward was seen shaking his head and throwing his hands up in exasperation. Coach Didier Deschamps was also visibly angry, engaging in a discussion with the referees during the hydration break.

German commentator Philipp Sohmer explained that the officials were checking if anyone had covered their mouth with their hand, which at this World Cup automatically leads to a red card.

ARD television pundit Bastian Schweinsteiger also weighed in on the situation after the match. "To me, it was a joke that Mbappé had to wait so long. The referee had to talk to someone. He can't just let Mbappé place the ball and wait."

"Something like that throws a penalty taker off balance. Again, we're talking about an Argentine referee – did he influence the decision to award the penalty? I think the referees acted very poorly," said the 2014 World Cup winner with the German national team.

Jürgen Klopp echoed this sentiment. "That didn't help him. You could see it affected him," remarked the former coach, who is working as a television pundit for MagentaTV during the World Cup.