The meeting was literally atmospheric. In the 35th minute, the main referee of the match, the British Michael Oliver, decided to suspend the match and remove the teams from the field. The reason for this was bright lightning in the sky and a heavy downpour that fell on the sand. Should the referee have acted so decisively? Danish coaches Kasper Jullmann and Morten Wieghorst certainly didn’t care. In 2009, they personally witnessed how a player of their team was struck by lightning. The poor guy had to have his leg amputated.
The match resumed 25 minutes later. And Michael Oliver has been in the spotlight more than once. In the 48th minute, Joakim Andersen sent the ball into the German goal. This could have been the defender’s first goal for the national team, but the video replay revealed a millimetre-wide offside in attack. The misadventures of the namesake of the famous narrator did not end there. Just three minutes later, Andersen accidentally played with his hand in his own penalty area. More precisely, not even with his hand, but with his fingers. The touch was light, but the chip, which is equipped with all Euro 2024 balls, recognised it. The result is a penalty. The penalty kick was converted by Kai Havertz and that moment became decisive in the match. Jamal Musiala’s goal only consolidated the success of the home team.
“Maybe these are the craziest minutes of my career,” Joakim Andersen lamented after the game. Scoring such an important goal in such an important match and then seeing how everything falls apart, how the referee makes a decision against you. This is crazy. There was no penalty! The opponent was half a meter away from me and he hit me on the hand. What I can do? Should we play soccer with our hands behind our backs? There is something wrong with the rules.
Alexey Nikolaev: Rules are rules, although there are many questions about them. Football players should also understand this. The main thing is to have a unified interpretation.
We asked Alexey Nikolaev, a former FIFA referee who was part of UEFA’s elite tier of referees, to examine this and other controversial episodes from the scandalous match.
Let’s start by stopping the game. In case of force majeure, do the referees have strict recommendations or does the judge have the final say?
Alexey Nikolaev: Any interruption of play is at the referee’s discretion. The weather conditions in Germany now leave a lot to be desired, and this was probably discussed before the match and in the pre-match meeting. The safety of match participants and referees comes to the fore.
There was still hail there. Could it have caused the game to stop?
Alexey Nikolaev: Hail and hail are different. If it threatens the safety of participants or significantly worsens the playing conditions, then that’s a story. It all depends on the scale of the disaster. Lightning in this sense is clearly a threatening factor.
Have force majeure weather events occurred in your practice?
Alexey Nikolaev: God had mercy. Stories of such storms have never happened in my practice. There were situations with heat. For example, in one game I asked not to make one “watering hole” in half, as usual, but two.
The referee had to intervene more than once during the match. In the episodes where a goal was disallowed and a penalty awarded, could you not find any fault with him?
Alexey Nikolaev: Indeed, everything was clear. We see what technologies rule today. When my generation judged, all the current achievements seemed fantastic. We couldn’t even imagine that the VAR would appear, much less the chips on each ball. In my opinion, this has little to do with football. But the technology works: recording those touches on a football field is sometimes unrealistic. At the same time, the level of image visualization leaves no doubt about the correctness of the referee’s final decision.
How to respond to the Danish Andersen, who says that “something is wrong with the rules”?
Alexey Nikolaev: To be honest, I also don’t like many of the moments when we arrange a sleight of hand. And the most important thing is that they are very difficult to explain. Previously, everything was much simpler in this regard. It is clear that arms in a natural position always increase the area of the body. But the rules are the rules, although there are big questions about them. Footballers must understand that such accidents are possible. The main thing is that there is a unified interpretation.
The famous Frenchman Arsene Wenger offers his interpretation of offside. For example, it is necessary to record when the attacker is one full body length closer to the goal than the defender. But everything will be reduced to millimeters again…
Alexey Nikolaev: In this sense I agree. Disputes will continue to exist. I would like to find a middle ground so that there are fewer. I fear that with technological progress the need for touch judges will disappear. Otherwise, everything will simply be reflected on the scoreboard: it was offside, it was not. I wouldn’t want it to come to that. Otherwise, football will become completely computer-based.
What can you say about refereeing in the Euro Cup? What is your overall impression so far?
Alexey Nikolaev: The overall impression is based on how much they talk about refereeing, how many important decisions were made and whether they were wrong. Judging by the information space and personal impressions, colleagues work at a good level. And this despite the fact that in the group stage there were more VAR interventions than during the entire previous Euro Cup. The main thing is that everything was to the point. As for the significant episodes, perhaps the aftertaste was left after the Italy – Croatia match, when eight minutes were added and the Italians scored their goal. In that situation, five to six minutes would have been optimal. Well, I cannot help but say that the European Championship is missing the Russian team and our Sergei Karasev, who would definitely qualify to referee not only the playoffs, but also the final match.
Statistics
Germany – Denmark – 2:0.
Dortmund. “Westfalen Stadium”. Spectators: 61,612 Referee: Michael Oliver (England). Goals scored: Havertz, 53 (penalty), Musiala, 68. Warnings: Andersen, 57, Maele, 60 (all – Denmark).
Where will we see?
Monday July 1st “Match TV”
19.00. France – Belgium. Live broadcast22.00. Portugal – Slovenia. Live broadcast
