69th minute of play. While the Netherlands have not worried Mike Maignan for a long time, Xavi Simons shoots the Milan goalkeeper, who has just repelled a first strike from Memphis Depay. The Oranje explode: they believe they have turned a match around… which ultimately resulted in the first 0-0 of this Euro. And for good reason, the goal of the player under contract with PSG was refused for an offside position by Denzel Dumfries.
It took several minutes for the video assistance to confirm the cancellation of this opening score. And very little time for Ronald Koeman, coach of the Netherlands, to regret this decision on the microphone of the Dutch channel NOS. “For me, it’s clearly a valid goal. Ok, our player (Dumfries) is in an offside position. But look at the images: he doesn’t bother the French goalkeeper, who is late and has nothing but There is no possibility of diving. The presence of a player in his vicinity changes nothing: from the moment of Simons’ shot, Maignan is no longer able to prevent the goal. ‘it’s offside, so you don’t need to spend 4 minutes touching your ear. If you have that much doubt, you have to allow the goal.
On the action, Maignan does not have time to fully regain his support after his first parade in front of Depay and does not seem, in fact, able to dive again. But even without touching it, Dumfries is in the path of the ball and right next to his opponent. “The referee’s decision is difficult to digestadmitted Simons in turn. But you have to give in because I can’t change anything anyway.”
A few moments later, Didier Deschamps obviously had a very different opinion at a press conference. “For me there is no goal. He must have had, well I don’t know… a meeting with the refereeshe cut in with a touch of mischief after being informed of Koeman’s statement. From the moment a player is in an offside position and prevents the goalkeeper from having vision and being able to dive… It took a long time, I was surprised in fact, because when I see the “image on the screen right next to me, it seems obvious to me”. Not for the referees, at first. Even less for the Dutch.
Xavi Simons awaits the referee’s decision
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