Former Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong has defended the referee’s decision to award Argentina a penalty in their 2-0 World Cup win over Austria.
The incident occurred early in the match when Lautaro Martínez went down in the box under a challenge. After a VAR review, referee Amin Omar pointed to the spot, though Lionel Messi failed to convert the kick.
Speaking on SuperSport, Troost-Ekong said the contact on Martínez was clear. He noted that the only issue was whether the tackle came before or after the ball was played.
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“The moment Argentina started to show their quality, you can see there is a tackle. It is quite evident that there is contact with Martínez,” he said.
“The only question was whether it occurred before or after he made contact with the ball. I believe it was a straightforward decision by the referee, although it took a considerable amount of time to reach that conclusion.”
Despite missing the penalty, Messi scored twice later in the game to secure Argentina’s victory and extend his World Cup record to 18 goals. He also stretched his scoring streak to six consecutive World Cup matches.
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