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MOSCOW (AP) – FIFA's patience with Diego Maradona's World Cup antics finally expired on Wednesday.
The World Football Corps said that it "strongly admonishes" the comments of the great Argentine referee criticizing the way the US referee Mark Geiger handled England's victory against Colombia in the knockout stages of the World Cup.
This was another controversial moment involving Maradona, FIFA's official ambassador and iconic figure in his "Legends" program celebrating the former players, at a World Cup where he mostly competed as a team member. VIP guest of FIFA.
FIFA fought back at Maradona for telling Venezuelan telesurvey Telesur that the result of Tuesday's match in Moscow was a "monumental flight".
Maradona was photographed before the match with a Colombian yellow jersey.
England has qualified for the quarter-finals in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in a fiery match slowed by stops and players fighting over each other. with Geiger, a former high school teacher from New Jersey.
FIFA stated that Maradona's "insinuations" were "totally inappropriate and totally unfounded".
"FIFA is extremely sorry to read such statements from a player who wrote the story of our game," he said in a statement.
FIFA had tolerated Maradona's previous incidents during games in Russia, which the 1986 World Cup captain had to explain on his Facebook page.
He apologized for making an offensive move towards a South Korean supporter during the 1-1 draw of Argentina against Iceland in Moscow. He then hinted that the media were trying to make the headlines of an innocent incident and were breaking the rules of the World Cup stadium by smoking a cigar.
Maradona was filmed on the official TV show of FIFA aggressively raising his major after Argentina scored a late-winning goal against Nigeria in St. Petersburg.
He was also seen on social media footage that appeared to be ill and assisted from his seat in a private dining room.
FIFA has a tumultuous relationship with Maradona in his career as a player and coach.
He tested positive for a cocktail of banned substances at the 1994 World Cup in the United States and was sent home after the tournament.
As a coach of Argentina in 2009, a suspension of FIFA for a tirade aimed at journalists after a World Cup qualifier match prevented Maradona from attending the draw at the 2010 finals in Cape Town, South Africa.
Maradona was a virulent critic of former FIFA President Sepp Blatter, but he was brought back into the fold when Gianni Infantino was elected in 2016.
He came to the Kremlin in Moscow last December, wearing a gold bow tie to participate in the 2018 draw.
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