Scotland's 1-0 defeat to Morocco in Boston quickly became more about the decisions than the scoreline. Morocco scored after 71 seconds, but the post-match focus stayed on two penalty appeals, a yellow card for Issa Diop and a split view from ITV's referee experts.
Why the penalty debate took over
The first flashpoint came when Scott McTominay went down in the box against Neil El Aynaoui. Christina Unkel said the incident should have been a penalty, while her VAR explanation was blunt about the footage.
"I think it is a penalty kick," Unkel said.
She also said, "The first thing you are looking for as a VAR is if there is any touch on that ball and the answer is no. You can see that in the second replay, that is exactly what I was looking for, and you can see there is no touch whatsoever."
Steve Clarke was not convinced the McTominay incident was the strongest appeal. He said: "I thought the John McGinn one was more a penalty [than the Scott McTominay one]. On another day somebody could give that."
That is where the argument got messy for Morocco. Scotland's ratings did not suggest a dominant individual display, with both McTominay and John McGinn listed on 6.6, but Clarke's view shows why the debate shifted toward the second appeal rather than settling on the first.
The Diop booking added another layer
The other major flashpoint came on 23 minutes, when Issa Diop was booked for holding after fouling Che Adams. Clarke believed that situation was even more serious.
"It's the same with the yellow card for the defender when Che Adams is going clean through on goals. On another day that could be a red," he said.
That is a fair complaint. It does not mean Scotland were denied a clean victory, and the scoreline still reads 0-1 to Morocco. But it does explain why the discussion after the game centred on what the referee allowed, not just on Scotland vs Morocco.
The opening goal came so early that Scotland spent the rest of the evening chasing both the match and the officials' calls. Ismael Saibari's strike inside two minutes was the only goal of the game, and his 7.9 rating was the highest among the major match participants in the stats pack.
Scotland still have Brazil to play, so this defeat did not end their tournament hopes. It did leave them with a post-match complaint that will linger into the next fixture.
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