The robbery of Spain in Korea and Japan 2002

If there is a game that remained in the memory of Spanish fans, it was the robbery of Spain in the World Cup in Korea and Japan 20022. A day that was on the blacklist of 'arbitration horrors'’ suffered by the Spanish national team. And it is that in that world, It was not only the Spaniards who received a disastrous performance by the referee. And it is that without going any further, the South Koreans, hosts of the tournament and who reached the semi-finals, they had let's say, soft arbitration performances.

In that World Cup there were rare performances in favor of the hosts

Spain was already on notice in its quarterfinal match against Korea in the World Cup 2002. Byron Moreno had already thrown a cable to the hosts in the round of 16 for them to overcome Italy. The robbery of the transalpines was of the time and in 2015 an investigation came out where the aid to the Koreans to knock down Italians and Spaniards was discovered. Moreno by the way was disqualified for 20 matches in Ecuador that same year for a suspected arbitration and later convicted for drug trafficking in New York City, in the US.

The day of the robbery against Spain in Korea and Japan 20022

Moreno was not the only one under suspicion. In the match between Korea and Spain, suspicions were soon confirmed. José Antonio Camacho's team should not go to the semifinals and was not going to do so. The referee, the egyptian Al-Ghandour.

A couple of goals annulled unfairly like the one from Morientes to a pass from Joaquín and that the referee trio decided had gone out before the shot, when the ball had clearly not gone over the line, the occasional doubtful offside and a total permissiveness with the fouls of the Koreans, deprived Spain of fighting for a place in the final against Germany.

There will always be the doubt that it would have happened in that World Cup with the VAR and if they had been able to steal so blatantly from the team led at the time by Jose Antonio Camacho.

The summary of the robbery in Spain