Back at the 2002 World Cup, Ecuadorian Referee Byron Moreno was at the center of controversy after disallowing a perfectly good goal for the Italians and the sending off Francisco Totti for diving, although replays showed he simply lost his footing.  With Italy losing that second round match to home favorite South Korea in extra time, conspiracy theorists went nuts and even Sepp Blatter was pointing out that Italy had four goals also disallowed in previous first round matches.

After the heat died down for a split second, Moreno was suspended for 20 matches in his home country after allowing a match between Deportivo Universidad de Quito and Barcelona SC to run 12 minutes over in extra time, which Deportivo scored twice to post a come from behind 4-3 win.

Then he was suspended a second time that same 2002 year for sending off 3 players unnecessarily and subsequently retired from the game.  Today he has come out with haymakers flying, blaming FIFA for their crackdown on diving and Italy’s defensive posturing for the loss, not him.

image via USAToday