Thursday, July 8th, 2021
Nasty attack on Schmeichel
England is mad at the laser “idiot”
England celebrates the entry into the final of the European Football Championship. But the greatest success for England since 1966 has come about in a questionable way: There is a lot of need for speech around the crucial scene.
No, the enthusiasm for England’s greatest success in football since the World Cup title in 1966 is not completely untroubled: the joy of the Three Lions’ 2-1 victory in the EM semifinals against Denmark is also mixed with anger. Anger over a “dangerous idiot” who wanted to influence the game in the crucial scene. With unfair means.
Referee Danny Makkelie gave England a controversial penalty after 102 minutes after a duel between Joakim Maehle and Raheem Sterling. Video images show that the Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel should be disturbed in an unsporting, dangerous way before the penalty kick: A green laser flickered over Schmeichel’s face, cheek, forehead, into the eye. Apparently a fan was trying to distract him. Schmeichel looked down at himself for a moment, apparently confused, but was apparently not permanently disturbed – and held the penalty from Harry Kane unimpressed by the attack. Schmeichel fended off the ball right in front of the English attacker’s feet, and the margin decided the semi-finals.
“Nobody wants to see something like that”
The scene caused a lot of anger in England, along with cheering for the first final since 1966: “One thing we saw right when Harry Kane scored the penalty and that is totally unacceptable and ridiculous … look, someone has one Laser pen in the stands, “scolded Mark Chapman at the broadcaster ITV.” Whoever that is, he or she is an idiot, and we can only hope that it didn’t upset Kasper Schmeichel, because it’s stupid and He didn’t deserve that. Nobody wants to see something like that. “
Former international Stan Collymore was angry that anyone “pointing a laser pointer at Schmeichel should be banned for life”. Kevin Maguire, co-editor of the Daily Mirror, has a clear demand: “There are surveillance cameras everywhere. So the idiot should be identified, prosecuted, imprisoned, embarrassed and banned from football for life. Dangerous idiot.” Several fans also demanded a similar penalty for the stadium visitor. “I hope the person who shot Kasper Schmeichel with a laser will be found and punished. Disgusting behavior,” wrote a Twitter user. Others rate the action as “terrible” and “shameful” for England. “To boo the Danish national anthem. Aim the laser pen at Schmeichel when the penalty is taken. Why do (some) England fans never miss a chance to bring shame to the country?”
In the English media in particular, the laser attack on Schmeichel, who guards the goal for Leicester City in everyday life in the league and has only worked for English clubs throughout his professional career, was a big post-game topic.
The penalty that ultimately led to the English victory, which was not undeserved, was doubly controversial. In addition, there was a second ball on the field when Sterling received the ball at the beginning of its path, which somehow led it in the approximate direction of Maehle’s leg and then onto the floor of the Danish penalty area. Usually the referees stop play in such cases, but they can exercise their discretion and ignore it if the ball does not interfere with play. “But in this case the stray ball was close to Sterling and the Danish defenders,” writes the Standard, “and you could say that it created a distraction.”
Penalty was “not so good”
The penalty itself, which caused the excitement, will be discussed for “a long, long time,” as Denmark goalkeeper legend Peter Schmeichel said. From the point of view of the German referee experts, the matter is actually pretty clear: ntv.de referee expert Alex Feuerherdt from “Collinas Erben” says: “There was contact between Maehle’s knee and Sterling’s thigh, but this contact was not what made Sterling fall. ” The striker waited much more for the right moment to provoke a whistle. He therefore committed himself: “This penalty kick was a far too hard decision.” Bundesliga referee Patrick Ittrich was extremely cautious about his harsh criticism of colleague Makkelie’s decision: “We judge on the basis of slow motion and have to find out that giving the penalty kick wasn’t so good.”
Ex-referee Manuel Gräfe was amazed on ZDF: “You can see the knee against Wade contact. But Sterling is already going into the duel with the intention – you can see that he is moving his body forward, he wants to pull it, he wants to cheat as the saying goes. You can actually see from the case pattern that this is not enough. ” Thorsten Kinhöfer told the “Bild” newspaper that “you shouldn’t give such a penalty in a European Championship semi-final”, “it touches him, but in such a phase of the game it has to be a 110 percent foul. And that was it it really isn’t! ” Makkelie hadn’t hesitated for a second with his whistle, the VAR didn’t correct him.
Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand was cautious about the scene after the game: “It was a penalty that shouldn’t have happened,” he said, after reading it in the “international press”. And: “We do not know who should have committed the foul.” So ends the great Danish EM fairy tale, which began so terribly with the life-threatening collapse of its star Christian Eriksen in the first game, with a disappointment and a very, very bitter scene.
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