MOSCOW -- Mexico captain Rafa Marquez has questioned FIFA's decision-making in choosing the officials for their third-place playoff against Portugal in the Confederations Cup on Sunday and slammed the decision not to use video assistant referee (VAR) on a penalty shout late in extra time.
The 38-year-old wasn't happy with the refereeing in general in the 2-1 defeat, but an incident at the end of the second half of extra time when Pepe appeared to push Hector Moreno inside the box particularly infuriated the Mexico midfielder.
Replays of the incident were shown inside the Spartak Stadium and El Tri's players surrounded the officials and demanded they refer it to VAR, but referee Fahad Al Mirdasi continued with the match.
"I don't know on what grounds they bring these types of referees," said Marquez after the game. "I don't know where he is from, but I think they should bring the world's best referees.
"It's even more [difficult to comprehend] when they showed the foul on Hector (Moreno in the stadium) and everyone saw it," added the former Barcelona player.
Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa -- who was named man of the match -- was equally confused and said the system needs to be refined to be fairer for both sides.
"I have a lot of witnesses, [FIFA president Gianni] Infantino was there and I don't think he went away without seeing it," said Ochoa. "It is a [controversial] topic and it will continue to be so. Some plays, yes [they refer], and others no. They will have to find a fairer way."
Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio was sent from the bench late on as he raged against the assistant referee on the sidelines and didn't attend the postmatch news conference.
Portugal had two penalties in the match, with the first being referred to VAR before Ochoa saved Andre Silva's attempt from the spot in the opening half.