Football EM: The penalty for England

Enlarge image

Raheem Sterling goes down after a duel with Joakim Maehle and Mathias Jensen

Photo: GEPA pictures / Michael Zemanek / imago images / GEPA pictures

The players who have so far barely been noticed at this European Football Championship and who have therefore shown a good performance were the referees.

When the media, coaches, fans or players did talk about the referees, they did it with unusual appreciation.

Discussions?

There wasn't.

But that is over now.

It was the 102nd minute of the semi-finals when England winger Raheem Sterling dribbled right into the Danish penalty area in front of 65,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium.

There he was first harassed by Joakim Maehle, then Mathias Jensen also intervened.

Sterling, 1.70 meters, 69 kilograms, went down between the two.

Referee Danny Makkelie whistled.

Penalty kick.

Because the decision stood up to scrutiny by the video referee and captain Harry Kane converted the penalty into a margin of 2-1 victory, the remarkable journey of the Danes ended late and in a particularly annoying way.

But how is the decisive game scene to be assessed: as a scandal - or as absolutely justified?

If you look at the slow motion, you can see that Sterling goes into this duel with the intention of scooping a possible penalty.

This can be seen in the torso that is far forward and the pattern of falling, which looks unnatural.

There was also a slight contact in the leg area.

But just because there is contact does not constitute a reason for a penalty kick.

The following applies: Touching is punishable if it is decisive for the case of a player.

Because that was not the case, it should have been better not to have that penalty.

But why did the video referee confirm Makkiele's decision?

And why didn't the Dutchman look at the scene again for himself?

Because the Uefa pretends in their games that the VAR only intervenes in the event of a foul penalty if there is no contact or the ball is clearly played. As soon as there was contact, one can no longer speak of a "clear wrong decision" by the referee. This is also where the line of Uefa differs from that of the Bundesliga. There the intervention threshold is lower in such situations, so an overriding by the VAR is more likely.

At 38, Makkiele is one of the youngest and most talented referees in Europe.

It is unclear what was the decisive factor for him to decide on the penalty at that moment.

But if it was the minimal contact in the leg area, that would explain why, according to UEFA's interpretation, there was no “clear wrong decision” - and therefore the video referee did not intervene.

What would have been the best solution in this scene?

It would have been best if Makkiele had waited in the decisive scene.

Just like he did at the beginning of the second half when Kane went down in the penalty area, allowed Makkiele to continue and the VAR confirmed the decision "no penalty".

The Danish protest is understandable for another reason.

The decision made did not fit with Makkiele's previous game management.

He let scenes continue in midfield that could have been whistled off.

That is not wrong, it even corresponds to the generous line prescribed and welcomed by Uefa.

But the discrepancy in the interpretation of rules between the situations is problematic.

And what about the second ball?

There was also much discussion that a second ball was on the field when Sterling dribbled into the penalty area.

It was correct that Makkelie let the game continue here because the ball did not disturb the game and did not interfere with the players' actions.