{"id":509176,"date":"2026-06-20T06:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T06:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/509176\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T06:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T06:38:15","slug":"scotland-told-referee-missed-clear-penalty-in-world-cup-var-drama-as-scott-mctominay-fumes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/509176\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland told referee missed clear penalty in World Cup VAR drama as Scott McTominay fumes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scotland’s Group match with Morocco was played on a knife-edge the entire match, but they were left furious when they were not awarded a penalty<\/p>\n

01:02, 20 Jun 2026Updated 01:35, 20 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

Scott McTominay was furious he did not get a penalty(Image: ITV)<\/p>\n

ITV referee analyst Christina Unkel believes Scotland should have been awarded a penalty in their World Cup defeat to Morocco<\/a>. Steve Clarke’s side were beaten 1-0 by the Africa Cup of Nations winners in Boston.<\/p>\n

They struggled to create any real opportunities against the North Africans, who were good value for their win with Ismael Saibari grabbing the game’s only goal in the second minute. However, the Scots were denied a clear penalty in the eyes of Unkel.<\/p>\n

McTominay charged into the 18-yard box when he was tackled from behind by Neil El Aynaoui. It was deemed by VAR that the Moroccan midfielder got a touch on the ball, but replays suggested otherwise.<\/p>\n

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Unkel was convinced they should have been awarded a penalty when the Napoli ace was bundled over. She said: “The first thing you\u2019re looking for as VAR is any touch on that ball and the answer is no.<\/p>\n

“We saw that second replay there and exactly what I was looking for, there was no contact on that ball. There is a trip up from behind, contact on the left lower leg.<\/p>\n

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“For this, I do think there is a missed incident from the var to recommend a penalty as well as the referee to not make a decision on penalty. I know this referee is calling a more physical game but it is a very clear penalty in my opinion.”<\/p>\n

Ally McCoist, who was commentating for ITV<\/a>, also believed his countrymen should have earned a penalty. He said: “I did say when I watched it second time there is a challenge on the left leg. But I did say I’m enjoying the referee allowing the game to go. However, Christina is right, he did get that one wrong.”<\/p>\n

\"Scotland's<\/p>\n

McTominay looked to have been impeded by El Aynaoui(Image: Andrew Milligan\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

McTominay looked shocked as his appeals were waved away before furiously protesting. Roy Keane<\/a>, however, was less than convinced it was a penalty. He said: “I don’t think it was a penalty. As simple as that. He was kind of looking to go down. I think he was looking to go down. There’s a difference.”<\/p>\n

Fellow ITV pundit Ange Postecoglou also agreed with Keane, saying: “The Moroccan penalty gets his leg out, but I don’t think that’s enough to be a penalty. He does get across him, but not for a penalty, I think he was going down anyway.”<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

McTominay was furious when he was not given the decision(Image: FIFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

McTominay was furious when the Uzbekistani official Ilgiz Tantashev did not point to the spot. That was not the only time they believed they deserved a penalty.<\/p>\n

Early in the second half, John McGinn appeared to be brought down by the same player when he broke into the penalty area. While there also appeared to be little contact with the ball, it was also deemed not enough to be a penalty.<\/p>\n

The defeat leaves Scotland<\/a> with work to do to advance to the knockouts, with their final group match against one of the tournament favourites, Brazil<\/a>, next Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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Sky is knocking 20% off its entire range of Glass TVs to mark the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Until June 17, shoppers can upgrade to the Sky smart TV that’s ‘designed for football’ from \u00a34.50 per month when taken alongside a Sky TV and Netflix package.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland’s Group match with Morocco was played on a knife-edge the entire match, but they were left furious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102501,61,60,107925,28466,112,210558,102024],"class_list":["post-509176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-africa-cup-of-nations","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-scotland-football-team","tag-scott-mctominay","tag-sports","tag-steve-clarke","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}