FIFA turns down France’s request to rescind Michael Olise’s controversial yellow card | OneFootball

France’s request to rescind Michael Olise’s (24) unjustified yellow card during Les Bleus‘ World Cup last-16 slender win against Paraguay (1-0) has been turned down by FIFA. The Bayern Munich attacking midfielder entered Ilgiz Tantashev’s books after an apparent scuffle with Paraguay’s Matias Galarza.

However, replays showed that Olise only held Galarza’s shirt when the latter went to the ground as if being hit in the face. Olise’s yellow card was one of the Uzbek referee’s many baffling decisions that night. The official has been handed a rare 1/10 rating in France’s sports daily L’Equipe. Given Tantashev’s mistake, Fédération Française de Football felt they had a case in asking FIFA to cancel Olise’s yellow card.

But France national team manager Didier Deschamps has said today during his pre-game press conference that Olise’s yellow card stands. “We received FIFA’s decision this morning”, Deschamps said. This could prove a headache for France because, should Olise pick another yellow card tomorrow against Morocco, he’ll get a one-match ban and miss France’s potential semi-final against either Belgium or Spain.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval