Question Number: 34281

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 8/2/2021

RE: Rec Adult

Johnnie Hutchins of Friendswood, TX US asks...

I am puzzled by the PK call in the US Women's Olympic match with Canada.
To me it appeared in the replay the Canadian player obviously initiates contact and from angles I saw came in from behind shoulder not level. This threw the American player off balance and the follow through of her kicking motion then impacts the Canadian player. As ref I just don't see intent on part of US player to kick the other player or a wild or reckless act. I am baffled. I understand the "kick" occurred in the box but I can't understand how the foul or PK interpretation agrees with the spirit of the laws.
Any help?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Jonnie,
From my opinionated view, the fast pace caught the American defender off guard. Intent plays no real part in deciding if there is a foul. We look at that more as a misconduct action which is why no card was shown because there was no intent to wipe out the Canadian as in a cynical calculated foul to stop an attack, she just was late clearing the ball. I saw it as a careless trip created by being a bit too nonchalant on the clearance. No real argument in that the ball was NOT contacted by the American she just swept the Canadian off her feet. The defender could have shielded more with her body rather than get sideways. Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Johnnie
Intent was removed from the Laws of the Game many years ago and it is now simply a matter of fact of whether a player commits any of the listed penal offences in Law 12 in a careless or reckless manner.

In the situation the Canadian attacker places herself between the ball and the USA defender who then attempts to kick the ball yet ends up kicking the attacker. It was certainly careless which is a foul and as it happened inside the penalty area the decision had to be a penalty kick.

Without VAR the contact would have been missed by both the referee and the AR as the on field decision was a goal kick yet the camera does not miss anything. As shown on video it was always going to be called as a kicking foul. As you mention it was not a reckless challenge so there was no caution for the defender.