EM Germany in luck
Heaven and Hell – The tragic 238 seconds of the Dane Joachim Andersen
Status: 02:01 am | Reading time: 3 minutes
This millimetre decision saved Germany from falling behind
The German national team is in the quarter-finals of the European Championship. After half-time, the Danes almost took the lead, but Thomas Delaney’s toe and the video referee allowed the DFB team to breathe a sigh of relief. The scene in the video.
Joachim Andersen’s goal to make it 1-0 was disallowed by video review. Shortly afterwards, Germany was awarded a penalty because the video assistant spotted a handball by the Dane. Scenes that are also typical of the German team’s luck.
The 2-0 victory of the German national team in the round of 16 against Denmark gives us hope and enthusiasm for more. But things could have turned out very differently, as everyone involved later agreed. No player, not even the national coach, forgot after the victory that although it was a deserved one, luck was also needed shortly after the kick-off of the second half to get on the road to victory.
Exactly 47:44 minutes had been played when the ball crossed the line of the German goal. Joachim Andersen had scored the 1:0 for Denmark and shot his national team towards the European Championship quarter-finals. The defender sent his country into a frenzy. Fans in red and white were seen cheering in disbelief in the stands of the Dortmund stadium. It must have looked very similar at home.
Andersen ran towards his own supporters, his teammates following behind him, and put his right hand to his right ear. He wanted to hear more after his first international goal ever, but instead there was a call from Leipzig.
This is where the video assistant referees sit at this European Championship, who review all the crucial scenes. On Saturday evening, the Englishman Stuart Atwell was on duty there and signaled to his compatriot Michael Oliver that the goal had been preceded by an offside position by Thomas Delaney. It was a very narrow margin, as it was the tip of his foot, but the situation was clear.
Joachim Andersen celebrates his first international goal. The joy is short-lived…
Source: AFP/INA FASSBENDER
Exactly 101 seconds after the supposed goal, Oliver signaled for offside on the pitch. Andersen’s goal would not count. Another 28 seconds later, Manuel Neuer continued the game by taking the free kick.
VRA Stuart Atwell knows no mercy
Andersen was probably a little annoyed afterward, but shortly afterwards he was back in the thick of things. The German team had launched an attack down the left side, where Patrick Raum crossed into the middle and shot at Andersen’s hand from close range as he was defending in the penalty area. Exactly 50 minutes and 8 seconds had been played.
Referee Oliver had not recognised the violation of the rules, but there was still Stuart Atwell. He informed his compatriot again that something was not quite right. Oliver then watched the scene, including the impulse graphic, several times on the screen in the stadium and awarded a penalty after 51 minutes and 42 seconds, which Kai Havertz converted to make it 1-0 for Germany.
… the VAR first disallows the goal and then finds him guilty of handball
Source: AFP/INA FASSBENDER
Andersen the hero suddenly became a tragic one. 238 seconds lay between his goal and the handball. Almost four minutes in which the Danes’ great chance of reaching the quarter-finals was dashed and the German preliminary decision was made instead.
This millimetre decision saved Germany from falling behind
The German national team is in the quarter-finals of the European Championship. After half-time, the Danes almost took the lead, but Thomas Delaney’s toe and the video referee allowed the DFB team to breathe a sigh of relief. The scene in the video.
“That’s basically where the whole game was decided. It was really razor-thin. That’s when the game tipped,” said German national player Robin Gosens, who was not nominated for the European Championship, on Magenta TV and identified the phase of the game as a fitting symbol for the overall situation in his own camp: “That’s bitter for the Danes, but it describes quite well the situation we have here in Germany at the moment. We have the momentum on our side.”
