Edgardo Codesal Méndez is an Uruguayan-Mexican football (soccer) referee, best known for supervising the final match of the 1990 World Cup held in Italy.

During the match, he had incurred the wrath of the Argentinians by refusing to award Argentina an arguable penalty by Matthäus against Calderón and, seconds later, giving Germany a debatable penalty by Sensini against Völler, five minutes before the end of the regular time.

Codesal also became the first referee to send off a player in a final match of a Football World Cup, by showing the red card to Argentines Monzón and Dezotti. Monzón was given a direct red after what Codesal judged to be a harsh tackle on Jürgen Klinsmann, and Dezotti was sent off near the end for a tussle with Jürgen Kohler.

A few days after the match, Argentine coach Carlos Bilardo, referring to Codesal being a gynecologist, suggested him to "take his hands to where he knows". At the USA 1994 World Cup, banners insulting Codesal were hung by Argentine fans.

On October 1999, Jorge Humberto Rojano, former president of the Mexican Referees Association, alleged in an interview with Mexican newspaper La Jornada that FIFA, at that time managed by Brazilian João Havelange, would only allow Codesal to supervise the final match if he prevented Argentina from winning"Argentina no debía ganar el Mundial de 90, la consigna: Humberto Rojano" - La Jornada "El caso Branco revive memorias de Italia 90" - La Jornada "FIFA habría boicoteado a Argentina en 1990" - El Salvador "Sospechas" - Clarín .

Another allegation ocurrs June 14 2006, when former german player Andreas Brehme told reporters during the penalty doesnt exists. "Penal de la final del 90 no existió" - Univision

Codesal had previously been the referee in the England vs Cameroon match for the quarter finals of the 1990 tournament, where three penalties were awarded, all of them scored; the first one was for Cameroon, then the equaliser for extended additional time for England, and the last one gave England the passage to semifinals. During the match, he managed to keep control of a potentially difficult match over a period of 120 mintues. He retired from refereeing at the top level shortly after that World Cup.

Although Codesal was born in Uruguay, he represented his adopted country, Mexico, as a CONCACAF referee in the 1990 World Cup. Among his international posts, Codesal was CONCACAF's director of referees, head of refereeing for the FIFA Women's World Cup USA 1999, and member of the refereeing committee for the FIFA World U-20 Championship in Nigeria, the Confederations Cup in Mexico and the FIFA World U-17 Championship in New Zealand.

References

Football (soccer) referees | Uruguayan Mexicans