In the Champions League group stage against Sporting Portugal at home, Tottenham scored by Kane in the 95th minute. However, the goal was disallowed after a three-minute VAR replay.
The goal is blown up
If they can win Sporting at home, Tottenham can qualify from the group one round early. With a 1-1 draw, Tottenham will have to pick up one more point in next week's final group stage against Marseille to qualify. Of course, if they can win, Tottenham will finish top of the group.
Tottenham's first half was lifeless and was cleared by their opponents first. In the second half, Tottenham, who were behind by the scoreline, responded well and Bentancur equalised for the team. However, when Kane's stoppage time goal was blown off, manager Conte was furious and vented his dissatisfaction with the referee. He was called into the stands by the referee.
Is it as long should VAR take that long? Was the referee's decision correct? Are Tottenham really wronged? Let's analyze whether Kane took the ball in the offside position.
What is offside?
Know that the referee makes a life-and-death decision. The offside rule is explained in great detail on the FIFA website. Here, we only need to quote a small part of them.
How to determine if a player is in an offside position:
▪ The player's head, body or feet are in the opponent's half (except for the midline of the court);
▪ The head, body or feet of the player are closer to the opponent's goal line than the ball and the penultimate opposing player (including the goalkeeper);
The palms and arms of an attacking player cannot be used as a basis for offside penalties. A player who is on the same level as the penultimate player is not considered offside.
The following situations can also be considered offside:
▪ When the ball hits the post, crossbar or opponent and bounces back into the field, or the goalkeeper saves and bounces back into the field, the player deliberately holds the ball and interferes with the opposing player to gain an advantage.
Offside rules
What can be considered intentional
▪ The ball is flying in from a distance and the player can see it clearly;
▪ The ball rolls slowly;
▪ The direction of flight of the ball can be predicted;
▪ Players have plenty of time to coordinate their body movements, etc. Does not include instinctive stretching or jumping, and movements to gain limited control;
▪ A ball rolling on the ground is easier to control than a ball flying in the air.
Is Kane offside?
Let's review the whole process of Kane's goal. When Perisic crossed in front of goal from the left, Kane and Emerson were both in an offside position. There is nothing wrong with this part.
Emerson's header crossed over to Nacinho and came to Kane's feet, who scored the ball. But from the camera footage, when Emerson crossed the header, Kane received the ball behind the last defender, which was perfectly in line with the offside decision.
Kane is offside
The deflection of the ball against Nacinho was not intentional (according to the above rules) and Kane's position was not reset. That rule earned Kane a penalty in a 2018 2-2 draw away at Liverpool. Kane was also offside at the time, but Lovren brought Kane down in the box, which was seen as intentional by the referee and awarded Tottenham a penalty.
Dale and commentators argued that Emerson's head was swinging backwards before the ball hit Nacinho, so the goal should be considered valid. However, the direction the ball flew was not correlated with the offside decision, as Kane stood behind the last defender when Emerson touched the ball.
The Champions League group stage was semi-automatic offside and the referee knew Kane was standing in front of the ball. The three-minute review may have been to see if Nazinho was deliberately blocking, and finally deduced that it was not intentional. The focus of Tottenham fans is whether Kane is standing on the trajectory of the ball when he holds the ball. Some camera angles provide clearer proof.
If VAR had not stepped in, there was nothing Portuguese could have done about it. But judging by the camera footage in the last frame, Kane was indeed in an offside position, and the penalty was correct.