DBasia.news – England reached their first major tournament final in 55 years, but their Euro 2020 win over Denmark at Wembley was not without major controversy. Winger Raheem Sterling has been accused of diving and there were two balls on the pitch at the time of the incident.
In the match which took place at Wembley Stadium, Thursday (8/7) am, WIB, England and Denmark played out a 1-1 draw until normal time ended. This meant that extra time had to be played.
Denmark was surprisingly able to take the lead in the 30th minute. The execution of Mikkel Damsgaard’s free kick nestled heavily in Jordan Pickford’s goal.
England then bounced back nine minutes later. Simon Kjaer scored an own goal while trying to cut off Bukayo Saka’s mature pass.
After that, England continued to dominate the match. However, Gareth Southgate’s team were still unable to score the winning goal until the second half ended.
The course of the match in extra time was not much different. England still dominated and attackd Denamark’s defense.
The controversial incident occurred in the 102nd minute. Sterling who pushed into Denamark’s penalty box fell as he was tackled by Joakim Maehle.
The referee without hesitation pointed to the white spot to award a penalty to England. But the decision was strongly protested by the Danish players.
Interestingly, Danny Makkelie did not check live replays of the incident. He only communicated with the VAR officer and did not change his decision.
Whereas from replays, Maehle and Sterling’s foot touch was very minimal. There was an impression that the Manchester City player was diving.
Harry Kane, who advanced as a penalty taker, failed to beat Kasper Schmeichel. But he managed to take advantage of the rebound to score England’s winning goal.
Former Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, questioned the actions of the referee who did not see the replay on the touchline. He considered the incident did not deserve a penalty.
“There is no penalty. I don’t understand why in a situation like that, the referee doesn’t go and look at the screen,” Wenger said during his time as a pundit at BeIN Sports.
“At times like that, the referee has to be absolutely sure.”
Dietmar Hamann showed a tougher attitude. The former Liverpool player firmly believes Sterling has dived in the incident.
Hamann also questioned the function of VAR in the incident. He also sympathized with Denmark who had to be eliminated in that way.
“Obviously they (England) played well after taking the lead. But they won with a clear penalty for diving,” Hamann told RTE.
“Sterling probably thought the foul was coming, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. But Maehle pulled his leg, because he saw he couldn’t get there so there wasn’t any contact.”
Sterling did not remain silent after being accused of diving. He considered the referee’s decision right and denied doing the less commendable action.
“I went into the box and he (Maehle) stuck his foot out and touched mine, so it was a clear penalty,” Sterling said.