Christine Sinclair, captain of Canada's bronze medal women's football squad at the London Olympics, was issued a four-game ban by FIFA on Friday for "displaying unsporting behavior towards match officials."
Sinclair scored a hat trick in a 4-3 Canada loss to arch-rival United States in the Olympic semi-finals last August, then complained after the match about the performance of Norwegian referee Christian Pedersen.
"We feel cheated," Sinclair said. "It's a shame that in a game as important as that the ref decided the result before it started."
Sinclair, who was also fined an undisclosed sum by FIFA, fumed over an 80th-minute penalty that allowed Abby Wamach a penalty chance that she converted to pull the eventual Olympic champion US women level at 3-3.
The penalty was given after an indirect free-kick inside the area from Megan Wapinoe struck Marie-Eve Nault on the arm.
"She (the referee) actually giggled and said nothing. Classy," Sinclair said.
"Obviously, we're disappointed and upset. We felt that the referee took it away from us. We feel like we didn't lose. We feel like it was taken from us."
Source: AFP
