Question Number: 33909

Kicks From The Penalty mark 3/4/2020

RE: Adult

Douglas Wix of Liverpool, Merseyside United Kingdom asks...

Well done to Norwich city tonight but I must question the 2 officials during the shootout(for both Kruls penalty saves he was well off his line)& for allowing Kruls unsporting behaviour during the shootout.
Is it not feasible to say he should have been booked for the issue re behaviour & why wasn't there a retake ordered on the 2 saves & if there was could he have a card,which potentially would be a 2nd yellow. Does car not view shootouts,because the officials on the pitch got it well wrong! Thanks in advance.
Dougie Wix. P.s.As a neutral I was disgusted with Kruls behaviour.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
As Referee Grove points out VAR is not used in penalty kicks yet left to the match officials.
In the last FIFA Womens WC FIFA sought and received dispensation from IFAB on cautions in Kick from the Penalty Mark mid way through the tournament
By that time three goalkeepers had been shown yellow cards for encroachment and KFTPM stage was starting to loom plus the 2 yellow card suspension competition rule was likely to mean suspensions. The retake and caution on the French penalty miss using VAR highlighted the strictness of VAR.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mhSbih-N_AI&t=1m9s
IFAB said at the time that having it in place for penalty shootouts risked *unfairly distorting* the outcome if a goalkeeper is sent off
In explaining their decision to approve the request, IFAB accepted that the presence of VARs greatly increases the likelihood of any offence being detected and, as goalkeepers are likely to face a number of kicks during a shootout, there is a higher risk that a goalkeeper will be sent off for receiving a second caution if already cautioned in normal time.
Many referees including myself took that as *code* that football does not want encroachment strictly enforced just blatant ones. There are stories of senior referees and assistants being *demoted* for over zealously enforcing the encroachment law! Say Krul was sent off last night in KFTPM who would be the focus of attention?
At to Kruls behaviour he says that he does a lot of homework on penalty kicks and he uses *psychological dominance* which was evident in the WC in 2014 with similar antics for the Netherland v Costa Rica in KFTPM.
The referee should also have done his homework on Krul and told both goalkeepers what he expected in conduct and if that was not followed cards would be coming out. I always made a point to taking both GKs aside to tell them I did not want them coming forward to the ball yet going straight to the goal line.
Having said all that the Spurs missed penalties were poor and they probably have no real complaint on the technical aspects whatever about the gaming of the kickers.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Douglas,
There was actually an announcement by the English footballing authorities at the beginning of the season, that they would not use VAR to decide on goalkeeper movement off the line at penalties.

According to an article about this on the BBC Sport website:

''Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) will leave such decisions to on-field officials.''

So yes, it is purely down to the on-field officials involved, that no penalties were retaken in this instance.

There has often been a debate about how much leeway is allowed to goalkeepers in coming off the line at penalties and the most recent change in the law was supposed to allow them extra 'wiggle room' in that now only one foot has to be on (or above) the line instead of both feet having to be on the line but to be honest it doesn't seem to have had much effect on goalies' behaviour.

In this particular case I would agree that with the benefit of freeze frame it can be seen that Tim Krul was clearly off his line on more than one occasion but with it being left to the on field officials, it may not have been sufficiently clear and obvious that this was the case.

I was also annoyed by Krul's delaying tactics, I felt they were highly unsporting and he should have been sternly warned by the referee to cease and desist, after which if he continued, he could then have been cautioned.