Byron Moreno

Byron Aldemar Moreno Ruales (born November 23, 1969 in Quito) is a former Ecuadorian football referee, best known for officiating the Italy vs South Korea match in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, a match which South Korea won in extra time.

Controversy

Moreno was largely blamed by the Italian community for the Italian team's elimination from the 2002 World Cup after being defeated by South Korea in the Round of 16. Many members of the Italian team, most notably Italian striker Francesco Totti and coach Giovanni Trapattoni, suggested a conspiracy to eliminate Italy from the competition. [cite web
url=http://worldcup.espnsoccernet.com/story?id=217887&lang=us
title=Angry Italy blame 'conspiracy'
accessdate=2006-08-06
date=2002-06-19
publisher=Soccernet] Trapattoni even suggested obliquely that the official was ordered by FIFA to ensure a Korean victory so that one of the two host nations would remain in the tournament. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,265485,00.html Lay Off the Refs - TIME ] ]

Italy vs South Korea

There were several decisions made by Moreno during the game which were brought into contention. Conspiracy theorist also pointed to the "disallowed" or "invalidated" goal resulting from a dubious offside call on Italian midfielder Damiano Tommasi during extra time. However, opponents to the conspiracy theorist have stated that Moreno did not technically disallow the goal as the play had stopped and the South Korean players had stopped playing when Tommasi shot the ball into the net [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/world/2002/world_cup/news/2002/06/21/pinto_mailbag/ CNNSI.com - CNNSI.com's complete coverage of the FIFA World Cup - Pedro Pinto Mailbag: Italy whining touches a nerve - Friday June 21, 2002 08:44 AM ] ] .

Conspiracy theories

FIFA President Sepp Blatter acknowledged errors in the officiating, but denied the conspiracy allegations and stated that Moreno's dubious calls during the game was not the reason why Italy had lost. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/other_news/newsid_2055000/2055828.stm BBC SPORT | WORLD CUP | Other News | Blatter condemns officials ] ] Blatter stated: "Italy's elimination is not only down to referees and linesmen who made human not premeditated errors... Italy made mistakes both in defense and in attack... I call on Italian football to display some dignity and fair play because you can tell a great side more by the way it accepts defeat than by the way it handles victory."

After the 2002 World Cup

In September 2002, Moreno, while a candidate in October elections for places on the Quito city council, was suspended for twenty matches [cite web
url=http://www.soccernet.com/global/news/2002/0911/20020911referee.html
title=Referee suspended for 20 matches
accessdate=2006-08-06
date=2002-09-11
publisher=Soccernet] and investigated by Ecuadorian soccer authorities and FIFA [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/2255952.stm
title=FIFA investigates Moreno
accessdate=2006-08-06
date=2002-09-13
publisher=Soccernet] after a match he officiated between Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito and Barcelona Sporting Club from Guayaquil. With Liga de Quito trailing 3–2 at the end of the match, Moreno signalled six minutes of injury time, then allowed play to continue for thirteen minutes, during which Liga de Quito scored to tie the game in the 99th minute, then won the game in the 101st minute. Moreno was also accused of falsifying the minutes in which Liga de Quito scored their tying and winning goals in his official match report.

In May 2003, in his third game back from his suspension, Moreno was again suspended, for one match, after he sent off three players from visiting Deportivo Quito in a 1–1 draw at Deportivo Cuenca. [cite web
url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=3503484
title=Controversial ref suspended again
accessdate=2006-08-06
date=2003-05-23
publisher=The New Zealand Herald] He retired the following month, blaming low performance marks for his retirement. [cite web
url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/2003/06/10/latin_rdp/
title=Ecuador ref Moreno complains at low marks
accessdate=2006-08-06
date=2003-06-10
publisher=Sports Illustrated]

References