SO ?
Goal or no goal?
For the Sainte-Geneviève team, their left side Paul Empunda Ndjoku scored the only winning goal in the last minute thanks to a superb strike into the top corner of the US Ivry goalkeeper for a match counting for the championship of National 3 (5th division).
For their opponent Val-de-Marnais, the ball passed close to the right post of goalkeeper Viorel Boian so the goal cannot be awarded.
Who's telling the truth?
Referee Lukas Puzilewicz decided to validate the goal and then stop the match before the end of added time.
The reason ?
Let's rewind.
Did the ball go into the goal?
In this 5th division match, the Sainte-Genevieve players scored the winning goal against Ivry with this powerful shot... but the ball ended up behind the net.
pic.twitter.com/INTsNFdVOB
— The Parisian |
91 (@leparisien_91) February 6, 2024
After the referee validated the Essonniens' opener, the Ivryens headed towards the man with the whistle.
In the stands, the Val-de-Marnais president takes to the field.
“We see that the ball ends up outside.
People in the stands say there is no goal.
I see that my players are getting annoyed so I go onto the pitch to calm them down, says Pierre Mbappé, Kylian's uncle and boss of US Ivry since 2021. I then ask the referees if they have checked the condition of the nets before the start of the match then after returning from the locker room.
They told me yes and the central referee told me that he saw the ball enter the goal.
I then ask him to show me where the hole is and we realize that there is none.
It’s like Olive and Tom!
(famous football cartoon in the 1990s).
I don't know if there is a purpose or not but this situation is incomprehensible.
»
“The nets are obsolete”
The Ivryens then decide to place a reservation before the referee suggests that the two teams end the match.
“My players kept telling him that the goal wasn't valid and at one point he said to us,
don't you want to restart?
well I whistle the end of the match
, declares Pierre Mbappé.
We then assured him that we were going to resume the match but after consultation with the observer (a former referee), he decided to definitively stop this match.
»
On the Sainte-Geneviève side, the opponent's attitude does not pass.
“When the Ivryens see the ball outside, they decide to say that there is no goal.
They wanted to play on that except that the referee is 100% sure and so are our players.
The sporting ethics were not present, judges Emmanuel Dorado, the coach of the 91 team. When you hit a big shot, it goes in and the whole team reacts at the same time on the goal, it is that there is purpose.
We didn't agree before the start of the match saying
guys if we shoot wide we'll all celebrate the goal together.
»
How then can we explain that this strike ended up behind Ivry's goal?
“The nets are obsolete and the mesh has become loose due to time.
The shot was so powerful that the pressure of the ball caused the net to give way, replies the Essonne technician.
I can understand the disappointment of conceding a goal in the last minute but to say that the ball went wide... We have to stop the bullshit.
Everyone saw it except them.
This spoiled the victory celebration.
Fortunately we came across a referee of character.
»
The FFF disciplinary committee will now take up the matter in the coming days and should ratify the victory of Sainte-Geneviève at the expense of US Ivry.
The only undefeated team in the 5 first divisions of France (from L1 to N3), Sainte-Geneviève is at the top of group H while Ivry occupies 7th place.