The English FA has asked from Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his assistant Carlos Queiroz to explain their comments after the FA Cup defeat against Portmouth 1-0. The Scot said that the performance of the referee Martin Atkinson was unacceptable and that he failed to protect his players especially Cristiano Ronaldo who was fouled on several occasions by Lassana Diarra. The 66-year old manager also blamed Atkinson for not giving them a penalty in the first half that could have changed the result of the match. This is while Queiroz also accused referees' chief Keith Hackett of "not doing his job properly". The FA gave them until March 19th to answer the request.
