Was the referee in the Nam Dinh - SLNA match right or wrong?

Thanh Nam football team fans thought they were being pressured, but SLNA also suffered a loss because of a penalty that Dinh Hoang took the initiative to close his hand in the penalty area.

Sensitive offside situation, the assistant referee was in the wrong position. Screenshot

When the score was 2-0 for SLNA right at the beginning of the second half, Jeremier Lynch escaped down to receive a high pass from Que Ngoc Hai's home field and then crossed reasonably for Olaha Michael to run in and finish into the roof of the net from close range. Coach Nguyen Van Sy and Nam Dinh players thought that the 2 foreign players of SLNA were offside. However, this was a very sensitive situation and the main assistant referee was in the wrong position and did not have the most accurate assessment.

In Nam Dinh's equalizer at the 67th minute, Nam Dinh was awarded a penalty after the ball hit Dinh Hoang's hand in the 16m50 area. Slow motion showed that SLNA's defender had actively closed his hand in the blocking situation. However, referee Tran Dinh Thinh still awarded the home team a penalty.

Article 12 of the FIFA Laws of the Game defines “handball” as follows: A player (except the goalkeeper when in the penalty area) commits an offence if he deliberately touches the ball with his hand or arm. The fundamental issue in determining whether a player has committed an offence is whether he deliberately handled the ball. That is the referee’s job. If a player turns away from a shot or a cross and the ball hits his hand, it is rarely considered an intentional foul. If a player handles the ball in a passive position, such as when he is falling or if a teammate hits the ball hard at close range, it is also rarely considered intentional.

FIFA sets out three main criteria for determination, including the movement of the ball (hand touching the ball, or the ball touching the hand), the distance of the ball (if the player has enough time to avoid touching the ball but still touches it, it will almost certainly be determined as intentional) and the position of the hand when touching the ball (if the hand is close to the body, it is not a violation).

In addition, the match was given 5 minutes of extra time but was broken up because SLNA players were continuously fouled. At the same time, bottles from the stands of Thien Truong Stadium caused the match to be continuously interrupted. Referee Dinh Thinh blew the whistle to end the match exactly at minute 90+5, 57 seconds, which was completely normal.

In fact, in this match, the players of both sides did not play dirty or maliciously, so Nam Dinh fans directed their criticism of the loss to the referee. At the end of the match, Coach Nguyen Van Sy rushed into the center circle as if he wanted to settle the score with the referee team, igniting the heated heads in the stands. From there, an overexcited fan rushed from the stands to the referee team who were going to the technical table in front of stand A, witnessed by the Chairman and General Director of VPF Company.