No way is that a penalty.
The France player was blocking his view. Not intentionally. Not at all.
There was no time to move his arm out of the way.
that was a tough penalty call. I first thought no, but on further review it would be tough not to call that a penalty. It was not intentional, but intent is not the key, is it?
Intent is the key.
That was ball to hand. Not hand to ball.
The ball was too close. There is no time to react. From the France player's glanced or missed header. It was just too close. If there was 5-6 yards, okay, that is a penalty. But at that distance? With such little time to move out of new/unexpected trajectory? No way.
The hand was extended (actually moved towards to ball)
The no time to move argument holds only if the ball changes direction towards the hand in very close range. That is not the case here. The German TV commentators agree with the call too(including Kahn and Nigeria's coach)
That is one of those ones that looks far worse in slo-mo replays than it actually was.
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Anyways, I can't support that decision. I think that is pedantic refereeing. Completely over the top decision and one that risks ruining this match.
France is bad... Croatia is pressing high kante and pogba so France can not move the ball forward at all. I don't know if they can keep this pressure up but if they do France is in trouble. You can just stay back and wait. Croatia will score again....
I hope you are right.
France don't deserve to be ahead in this match. And I hate seeing matches of this magnitude decided by questionable referee decisions.