Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir and his team of officials will take charge of England vs Croatia in the semi-final of the World Cup.
The 41-year-old has been a regular figure in the latter stages of the Champions League and took charge of Netherlands vs Argentina in the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup.
Cakir caused controversy when he sent off Manchester United’s Nani in the Champions League round of 16. United were winning on aggregate but went on to lose and exit the competition after Cakir questionably sent off Nani for catching Alvaro Arbeloa with a high foot, a decision that left Sir Alex Ferguson raging.
The omens appear to be bad for England as John Terry and Gary Cahill have both been dismissed by the Turkish referee. Terry was suspended from the Champions League final when he saw red in the second leg of the 2012 semi-final against Barcelona, and the current England defender, Cahill, was dismissed for an off the ball incident in the final of the 2012 Fifa Club World Cup.
The part-time insurance agent showed a red card to Mario Balotelli and produced a further eight yellow cards when Manchester City met Dynamo Kyiv in the Europa League in 2011.
This will be Cakir’s third World Cup match in Russia, he took charge of Morocco vs Iran without any problems and oversaw Argentina take on Nigeria where he could have awarded a penalty but chose not to review an incident in the box.
The Fifa listed referee of 12 years is no stranger to big occasions. He officiated the 2015 Champions League final between Juventus and Barcelona and took charge of the semi-final second leg game between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in this season’s competition.
Cakir’s style of refereeing is very strict when it comes to the smaller matters of the game, he is very precise when measuring distances and will have a keen eye on any skulduggery taking place. The highly-rated referee by Fifa and Uefa is fair with his cards and tends to use them as a last resort if he can help it.
