Lionel Messi scored the first goal for Argentina in the 2022 World Cup from a penalty kick.
Former professional referee Jonas Ericsson believes he shouldn’t have had a chance even from eleven metres.
– It’s not a punishment in my opinion, he says in SVT.
Argentina scored goal after goal in the first half against Saudi Arabia. But only one was approved. Three (!) were ruled offside.
At the start of the second half, they were shocked by two goals from Saudi Arabia, who turned a 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 lead within five minutes.
Jonas Ericsson sees the decision
Lionel Messi scored Argentina’s 1-0 goal from the penalty spot.
But Jonas Ericsson believes Argentina should not have been awarded a penalty for the situation in which Leandro Paredes fell.
– The referee thinks it’s nothing, but the VAR calls him out. Hence we know with 100% certainty that the judge obeys the decision. He can see the pictures we see. And we see that Paredes, what he does is grab the arm of the Saudi player and pull himself up. Ericsson at SVT says he doesn’t even give the Saudi player the chance to release his arm.
continued:
– This is not an obvious foul made by the referee. This is something I think is completely wrong for VAR entry.
– It’s not a punishment in my opinion.
Nella Fisher agrees
And Nella Fischer, the former defender of the Swedish national team, does not believe that the penalty kick was calculated correctly.
– If there is a punishment for this, it is really a punishment for every fixed position, you say.
Text updated – match is on!
