Referee Who Sent Off Son Heung-min in Ghana Match Gains Spotlight

Anthony Taylor Gives Son Heung-min a Red Card in EPL Match
Praised for Quick Response to Player's Cardiac Arrest at Euro 2020

Referee Anthony Taylor (left) and former Manchester United player Cristiano Ronaldo. Photo by Reuters

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] The referee assigned to the second match of the South Korean national team against Ghana in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar has been decided. It is Anthony Taylor (44, England), a referee active in the English Premier League (EPL).

Taylor, who has been active in the EPL for over 10 years since 2010, is considered one of the league's representative referees. In particular, he has met Son Heung-min (Tottenham), who plays in the league, several times on the field.

One of the representative matches was the 18th round match of the 2019-2020 season between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea held on December 23, 2019 (Korean time). At that time, Son Heung-min received a red card from referee Taylor after extending his foot and colliding while falling tangled with opposing player Antonio R?diger. Son Heung-min protested his innocence, but it was not accepted, and he was eventually sent off the field.

In the early 2022-2023 season, during the match between Chelsea and Tottenham in August, Taylor showed red cards to both teams' managers. At that time, Chelsea's Thomas Tuchel, who was accumulating dissatisfaction with Taylor's decisions, collided chest-to-chest with Tottenham manager Antonio Conte after Conte performed a goal celebration. After the match, when shaking hands, Tuchel did not let go of Conte's hand, leading to growling and almost a physical fight, resulting in Tuchel's dismissal.

On August 14 (local time), after the Round 2 match of the English Premier League (EPL) between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur held at Stamford Bridge in London, England, Antonio Conte, Tottenham manager (right), and Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea manager, clashed. Photo by Yonhap News

Taylor first appeared on the international stage in 2013. At the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2020) held last June, he was highly praised for his quick judgment and response to Christian Eriksen's (Denmark) cardiac arrest incident.

At that time, Eriksen lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground due to cardiac arrest near the end of the first half in the Group B first match against Finland held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Thanks to referee Taylor's quick judgment, medical staff were deployed and emergency treatment such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was promptly administered, and finally Eriksen was able to regain consciousness.

In this World Cup, referee Taylor is scheduled to meet the South Korean national team led by coach Paulo Bento. He has been assigned to the second match of Group H in the World Cup between South Korea and Ghana, held at 10 p.m. Korean time on the 28th at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar. On that day, referee Taylor will work with fellow Englishmen assistant referees Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn. The fourth official is Kevin Ortega (Peru), and the video assistant referee (VAR) is Tomasz Kwiatkowski (Poland).