10 Terrible Refereeing Decisions That Changed World Cup Games

The opening game of any World Cup is always an exciting and tense occasion. This summer's clash between Russia and Saudi Arabia might not quite live up to the same hype, but the last World Cup began with a bang as host nation Brazil faced Croatia in an entertaining, competitive game. Croatia unexpectedly took the lead after 11 minutes, but from that moment on, the referee, Yuichi Nishimura, seemed to heavily favour the Brazilians.

Neymar equalised after 29 minutes and then scored a penalty in the second half, but many fans argued that the penalty simply shouldn't have been awarded. Dejan Lovren was deemed to have fouled Fred, but the contact was minimal and the Brazilian appeared to just let himself fall to the ground.

Croatia then scored an equaliser but the ref had already blown his whistle for an alleged foul on goalkeeper Júlio César. Again, replays showed that there was no real foul and César had simply mistimed his movement and left his goal open. Brazil eventually won 3-1, but it's easy to see how the game could have ended differently with more competent refereeing.