Ahead of Team USA's upcoming knockout round match against the Belgians, coach Jurgen Klinsmann has made yet another stunning and reckless claim yet, Yahoo Sports reported. On the even of the match, Klinsmann reportedly used his press conference to cast doubts on Algerian referee Djamel Haimoudi, who would be officiating the US-Belgium match on Tuesday.
When Klinsmann was asked about his concerns about Haimoudi, who can speak French just like the majority of the Belgian players, he somewhat praised the referee's work so far in the World Cup passive-aggressively while doubling down on him.
"Well, we always have a concern. We know he did two games already thus far and he did them very well. So we wish he continues his refereeing [the] perfect way he's done so far. Is that a good feeling? No. Because he's coming from the same group as Belgium and Algeria," he said.
Yahoo Sports noted that both Belgium and Algeria had advanced from Group H to the knockout stage of the tournament. Although the two nations have nothing in common geographically, politically or culturally, and have played in different football federations, Klinsmann is basing his argument on the fact that the two happens to be in the same tournament group.
Haimoudi has an impressive career as an international referee. Since 2004, he has officiated ttwo World Cup games thus far. WorldReferee.com has said that Haimoudi never called a game involving the US or Belgium, so it would be his first for both companies.
Belgium coach Marc Wilmots has since dismissed the issue and said, "The referee is not there to talk. He is there to referee."
Although majority of the World Cup referees do not have a strong command of English, French, Flemmish/Dutch or German, Klinsmann subtly hits FIFA for the latter's apparent lack of expertise in selecting the right referees to officiate tournament matches.
He added, "Sometimes I know [for FIFA] it's difficult to choose the right referees for the right games and it's always been tricky for FIFA, but it is what it is. We give it absolutely the benefit of the doubt; we will respect the decision and be spot-on in the game and hope everything goes well."
