FIFA earlier stated that Diego Maradona’s criticism of American referee Mark Geiger’s performance during the England vs Colombia game in the World Cup round of 16 on Tuesday was “entirely inappropriate and completely unfounded.” In light of FIFA’s “strong rebuke” of the Argentine football legend’s “insinuations,” Maradona took to Instagram to apologize to the world football organization for his previous remarks. Suggesting that he was too excited in rooting for Colombia, he said a couple of things” and admitted that “some of them are unacceptable. His apology comes shortly after FIFA issued a statement condemning his remarks on referee Mark Geiger’s performance during the Colombia vs England match on Tuesday. Earlier this week, Maradona blasted Geiger’s handling England’s victory over Colombia, describing it as a “monumental theft. He further questioned Geiger’s appointment as a referee for the game and lashed out at the chairman of the referees’ committee, Pierluigi Collina, insisting that he apologize. Maradona then claimed that Geiger knew more about baseball than football: Colombia lost 4-3 in a penalty shootout in a game that saw them given six of the match’s eight yellow cards and whistled for 23 fouls compared to England’s thirteen. Geiger also awarded a penalty to England’s squad after Colombian midfielder Carlos Sanchez was determined to have pulled down striker Harry Kane. Maradona, who famously led Argentina to victory at the 1986 World Cup, has already hit headlines for his bizarre conduct during the championship in Russia. Watching the games from the VIP section, he couldn’t contain his emotions as he cheered for Argentina – he even flipped his middle fingers during the match against Nigeria.
