The fan anger over the penalty not being given in the German quarter-final continues. Now there are rumours about a preliminary instruction from UEFA. Stuttgart – Even just a few days after Nagelsmann's eleven were eliminated from the tournament, football in Germany is still in a state of excitement over what is likely to be a decisive decision in the quarter-final match of the European Championship at home against Spain (1:2 after extra time). Now there is also speculation: the tricky scene may have been influenced by a secret instruction from UEFA.
The German fans' anger was sparked by the fact that in extra time, referee Anthony Taylor did not award a penalty, even though a shot on goal by Jamal Musiala was obviously blocked by the hand of Spaniard Marc Cucurella. According to Bild, an internal UEFA instruction could be the reason for this decision. The European football association declared the decision to be correct because, according to the rules, Cucurella's hand 'was not in an unnatural position at the time of the hit.' This rule is based on refereeing guidelines issued shortly before the tournament. UEFA chief refereeing officer Roberto Rosetti explained various examples that justify or not a penalty in a meeting on 12 June. In an example similar to the Cucurella incident, Rosetti said that there was no reason for a penalty if the defender's hand was close to the body and in an almost vertical position.
Another example concerns the scene with Joachim Andersen in Germany's round of 16 match against Denmark (2-0). According to UEFA guidelines, the difference was in the position of Andersen's hand, which 'unnaturally enlarged his body.' Taylor, meanwhile, was heavily criticized for his failure to blow the whistle in the German quarter-finals, including by Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann. Former national player Michael Ballack called the referee's behavior a 'clear wrong decision' on Magenta TV and added: 'This is clearly an advantage-taking, the scene meets all the criteria for a handball penalty.'
Bild also pointed out that Taylor left the Stuttgart Arena without a word 80 minutes after the end of the game. Nagelsmann was frustrated immediately after the game and told ARD: 'The penalty we got against Denmark was much less of a penalty. I cannot understand why it is not evaluated, even though there are 48,000 replays.' Alongside Taylor, Stuart Attwell, the VAR on Friday night, was also criticised for the apparent failure to review the incident. However, UEFA is confident, notes The Athletic, that a proper review took place and the correct procedures were followed throughout the game.
Whether scandalous or justified, the DFB team's dream of winning the European Championship is over. The team will try to deal with the frustration over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, an online petition was recently launched by German fans demanding a repeat of the quarter-final match.
Germany are struggling to recover from the painful elimination in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024, in which they surrendered to Spain in the 120th minute. The host of the tournament did equalize just before the added time and forced overtime, but just as she achieved the 1:1 at the last minute, she also conceded and was eliminated when she almost had no chance to come back. As expected, even on the morning after the dismissal from the headlines, the hand touch of Mark Kokuriye that did not give Manchaft a penalty did not go down. As a reminder, in the 105th minute Jamal Musiala kicked outside the area, the ball was deflected by the hand of the English defender and referee Anthony Taylor and the screen referees were ignored. It is possible that he was different in the course, but until this moment UEFA has not confirmed this - but a clarification has arrived that according to the regulations, since the hand is inclined to the side and that it is a natural movement, the whistle should not be whistled.
Julian Nagelsmann, the coach of Germany, spoke about this in detail at the press conference after the match: 'The referee throughout the game whistled against us much more than he whistled against Spain. As for touching the hand, when a player kicks a bad ball that hits the hand and it is a borderline incident or a ball that did not endanger the goal, I don't want a penalty. It was a very good kick and probably would have gone into the goal, against Denmark we got a penalty for much less. I don't know how it wasn't checked, it's a fact that the ball was stopped in the hand.'
The coach also said: 'There were two good speeches in the dressing room after the loss (Kimish and Cross spoke) and I also said a few words. We did not deserve to lose and the feeling is very bitter now after we conceded in the 119th minute. We will have to wait two more years to be world champions, and it hurts That we will have to wait two years, and I probably won't have another tournament in my career that I will reach as the coach of the host team.'
In the 'Bild' newspaper, probably not surprisingly, they marked the English judges as guilty: 'Our dream stopped because of an English judge. Our Euro ended because of Taylor. Thank you very much.' Quite a few former German stars put up similar messages and it was Bastian Schweinsteiger who said: 'The hand is not close to the body and it hurts me to see something like that, we must provide an explanation for this. Toni Kroos could have received a red card so maybe we were lucky at the beginning, but not later on.'
By the way, Nagelsmann may have talked about waiting two more years to win the title, but it looks like a number of his players won't be there with him. Toni Kroos has already announced his retirement from football even before the tournament and Thomas Muller may retire from the national team, who stated that he is not interested in that, but admitted: 'I will talk to the coach soon and we will decide. This could be a decision he will make.' Manuel Neuer, the 38-year-old goalkeeper, also asked for time to think: 'It won't happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, it could take six months or more. As I said before, this is not a decision I made.'
