5 Terrible Refereeing Decisions That Changed World Cup Games 

1. Byron Moreno, Italy vs South Korea, 2002

Pains me to write this up because, obviously, the South Korea story of the 2002 World Cup was brilliant. An unfenced host nation progressing to the very latter stages, upsetting some of the games big names along the way. Doesn’t happen often enough.

But, how they go past Italy in the round of 16 leaves something of a sour taste in the mouth. While the odds were stacked against them in a simple 11 v 11 comparison, the decision making go referee Bryon Moreno more than made up for it.

First, he awarded South Korea an incredibly generous penalty and seemed happy to let the hosts get away with a number of rough tackles, while happily carding the Italians.

Then, in extra-time, he ruled out a golden goal winner for Italy that should absolutely 100% have not only stood, but ended the game. To make matters worse, then then sent off Totti for diving despite being 40 yards behind the play. Replays showing that he simply tripped.

Giovanni Trapattoni outright accused FIFA of ordering the officials to let Korea progress. Subtle.