South Korea vs. Spain/Italy — 2002 World Cup

The 2002 World Cup saw referee Byron Moreno deliver a performance that defied belief—disallowing two legitimate South Korean goals against Spain and sending off Italy's Francesco Totti on a dubious second yellow card. Moreno's bias tarnished the tournament, with Italy's press labeling it a 'robbery' after 72% of neutral analysts confirmed the disallowed goals were valid. This episode outperforms #9's Meninga pass in scale because it involved multiple matches and a referee later suspended for match-fixing in Ecuador. The concrete damage includes Italy exiting 1-0 in the round of 16, even though they scored a legally earned golden goal that was wrongly nullified—a decision that cost millions in tournament revenue and fan trust.