On Friday, the Kazakhstan Football Federation sent an open letter to the president of the Russian Football Union Sergei Fursenko about refereeing in the 2012 CIS Cup match between the teams of Kazakhstan and Belarus. During a quarter-final match, Kazakhstan’s team was leading the score 1-0 thanks to a goal from Baurzhan Dzholchiyev. At the beginning of the second half, within two minutes of the game, the match’s referee Russian Vitaliy Anisimov sent off two players from Kazakhstan’s squad. In the 52nd minute, the man in charge showed a second yellow card to Baurzhan Islamkhan after a disputable situation, and then in the 53rd minute, in a controversial situation immediately showed a red card to the Kazakhstan team captain Damir Dautov. As a result, the judge’s decisions seemed to have influenced the final score of the match. Having an advantage of two players, Belarus finally won the match. Playing two men short, Kazakhstan played well until the final whistle and even scored their second goal. However, the Belarus team gained a 3-2 win. In its letter, the Kazakhstan Football Federation urges the Russian Football Union to give an objective assessment of Anisimov’s actions and remove him from officiating international matches. Some independent foreign experts also share the Kazakhstan federation’s opinion of unqualified refereeing by Anisimov.

Yevgeniy Sychyov, FIFA Transfer Agent
«If I were the referee at that match, I would not have shown a second yellow card, accordingly, it would not have been a red one. As for penalties, it was hard for me to notice from the top as the judge was nearby. Even if there was a foul, it would definitely not be as hard to get a red card for it. So, unfortunately, some teams suffer because of the mistakes made by referees.»