Euro 2008
Holland 3-0 Italy: Van Nistelrooy’s goal right to stand
The commentators were sure and even the Dutch players admitted they got lucky with the Netherland's opening goal from Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. But, in law, it seems the Swedish assistant referee made a fantastic decision.
| HOLLAND Van Nistelrooy 26 Sneijder 31 Van Bronckhorst 80 |
3 | 0 | ITALY |
Ruud van Nistelrooy celebrates the contentious opening goal
The commentators were sure and even the Dutch players admitted they got lucky with the Netherland’s opening goal from Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.
But, in law, it seems the Swedish assistant referee made a fantastic decision.
It may have been more sporting and within the spirit of the game to consider defender Christian Panucci off the field of play and therefore no longer an active player, but having not received permission from the referee to leave the pitch nor actually injured, Holland’s goal was correctly awarded.
Van Nistelrooy paid a nervous look towards the assistant when he stabbed the ball past Italian captain Gigi Buffon, but referee expert Julian Carosi’s advice appears to clear up the matter.
On his website, he states the following in answer to a question over offside interpreation:
Where should the Assistant Referee place himself to judge for offside in the following instances: A defender’s momentum, takes him out over the goal line but he is not injured.
“Answer: A player leaving the field of play because of his momentum during play, is not deemed to have left without the Referee’s permission and can therefore re-enter without the Referee’s permission. In this instance, although the defender is off the field of play, (and until he returns to the field of play), he should be deemed to be standing on the goal-line (in the field of play) when considering offside. The Assistant Referee should stand in line with the last opponent on the field of play (which in this case will probably be the defending goalkeeper). When deciding offside in this scenario, the two last defending opponents are the defender who has travelled off the field of play, and the defending player who is nearest to the goal line on the field of play (which in all probability will be the goalkeeper).
If an uninjured defender purposefully remains off the field in an attempt to place an attacker in an offside position, then that defender should also be deemed to be standing on the goal-line (on the field of play) when considering offside. Trickery of this nature circumvents the spirit of the offside Law.”
And the ‘Advice to Referees’ booklet, part 11.11, back this up:
“A defender who leaves the field during the course of play and does not immediately return must still be considered in determining where the second to last defender is for the purpose of judging which attackers are in an offside position. Such a defender is considered to be on the touch line or goal line closest to his off-field position. A defender who leaves the field with the referee’s permission (and who thus requires the referee’s permission to return) is not included in determining offside position.”
The Italian media won’t be interested in listening, but Peter Fröjdfeldt and his team seem to have got a critical decision absolutely correct - and expect the UEFA Referees’ Committee to corroborate that fact. They are currently in the process of releasing a note supporting the decision made by the Swedish team.
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8 comments for “Holland 3-0 Italy: Van Nistelrooy’s goal right to stand”
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Thank god someone has actually got this right. Every other website and football pundit on TV is saying it should have been disallowed. I feel really sorry for the linesman.
ok
Ah come on… Holland played better than italy and deserved to win.
But don’t come saying that Panucci was not injured or he purposefully went off the field. Why didnt he got a yellow card too then?
V.N. was in offside. That’s it
Hallo,
I’m Italian, and I read the article with interest. If there is a rule, it must be accepted, and allow that the goal was regular. So no discussion about the 0-3. Actually what hurts me is not that, but your claim “The Italian media won’t be interested in listening”. Why such a negative opinion about another people such as mine? Shall I assume that you say that because yourself would react like that if your team was affected in a similar way? Wouldn’t you feel a bit hurt if other peoples express such a prejudice about yours? I hope that Italy reacts well now and tries to play good matches against Romania and France.
Cheers,
Paolo
In fact I’m right.
This is taken from the number 1 sport magazine (paper and online) in Italy, “La Gazzetta dello Sport”, that demonstrates our fair play when diffusing the comments of the President of Italian referees, who fully recognise the rule:
“Sull’1-0 applicata norma Uefa”
Non ha dubbi Cesare Gussoni, presidente dell’Aia, nel valutare positivamente la decisione di convalidare la rete di Van Nistelrooy. “Il guardalinee ha applicato al 100% la norma Uefa, valutando la posizione di Panucci come quella del giocatore che teneva in gioco van Nistelrooy. Anche io al momento ho pensato al fuorigioco, poi ho visto dal replay che c’era Panucci fuori dal campo”. Ma la regola Uefa non parla di volontarietà per il giocatore che esce dal campo? “C’è stata molta immediatezza - spiega il presidente degli arbitri italiani - il senso della regola è evitare che un giocatore si approfitti della sua uscita in campo per mettere in fuorigioco un avversario”. Secondo Gussoni, il guardalinee non poteva stabilire se l’uscita di Panucci dal campo era o no intenzionata a far diventare off-side la posizione di van Nistelrooy, e ha così deciso di applicare la norma dell’articolo 11.
[...] first goal” by van Nistelrooy, but I guess at the time of writing they hadn’t read this yet. The French (also in our group) ascribe the victory to the Dutch advantage of speed. According [...]
ah parah tuh,goal yg pertama gak sah,,soalnya ofside tuh nistelroy….
There is no doubt the English press would be similarly outraged if that goal had been allowed - that’s a fact.
I have a few Italian friends and they say Italian newspapers are not particularly fair concerning coverage of referees (I think one newspaper published a changed Serie A table last season to reflect the incorrect decisions of referees). There seems to be less respect shown to referees in Italy than in England, from a personal perspective.