Spain fumed for an hour against the referee of the soccer semifinal between Japan and the National Team. Luis de la Fuente's team was clearly damaged in the 55th minute when, in a matter of seconds, it went from having a clear chance converted into a penalty to a foul against with a yellow card included. The action was an obvious referee failure for not following current protocols and not letting the play finish before stopping the game. It could have been a pain. But Asensio solved it.
On the controversial move in question. Merino entered the area with clear scoring options and fell a few meters from the goal in what, at first, seemed like a clear penalty. The rejection of that play went to the feet of Rafa Mir, who stayed hand in hand in front of the Japanese goalkeeper with many options. The score at that time was 0-0. The referee, the Peruvian Kevin Ortega, stopped the match before finishing the play by decreeing the maximum penalty. However, from the VOR room they asked him to review the play. In the end, after seeing the images again, both he and the spectators could see that Merino had hit the defender before falling, in his attempt to shoot, and not the other way around. The outrage in Spain was not for correcting the penalty mark, but for having stopped the game before, presumably, Rafa Mir scored.
From La Rojita's bench they tried to pressure the referee while he made a decision, but he stood firm, canceling the penalty, signaling a foul in favor of Japan and removing the yellow card from the defender who had fought with Merino inside the area. The coach regretted a move that could have turned the game in favor at a decisive moment. The final victory in extra time made us forget all of the above.