Colombia's efforts to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the second straight time were hampered by refereeing interruptions and constant calls from England's players for fouls in the South Americans' last 16 loss on penalties, said coach Jose Pekerman.
Pekerman said the England players were demanding fouls which in his opinion were not, complaining to American referee Mark Geiger and affecting the flow of Colombia's game.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "There were many situations, as expected, and everybody knew the match would be like this and I think we have to try to defend football," the Argentine coach said.
"We have to do something to protect football when certain situations arise. It is uncomfortable to play this match with such refereeing decisions."
"When there are so many fouls that just cannot happen. We have to find ways to avoid that."
Pekerman said England's players were constantly attempting to force decisions.
"A player fakes a foul, they are trying to get the referee to book another player," he said. "There is a lot of confusion with this type of play. All those situations are determining situations."
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