Denmark coach Kaspar Hulmand has taken aim at “ridiculous” handball in football after a controversial 2-0 defeat to Germany in a storm-torn last 16 tie rule.
Denmark were in fine form against Germany and thought they had taken the lead when Joachim Andersen scored three minutes after half-time. But the goal was ruled out by VAR due to Thomas Delaney being scored for offside, and Anderson was then penalized for harsh handball detected by the video official. They could not find a way back after Kai Havertz’s penalty, with Jamal Musiala confirming Germany’s progress.
Urmand went out of his way to congratulate Germany, in a completely reasonable tone, and made decisions one by one. “I have a picture here, it’s just a centimeter,” he said of the offside call. “In terms of statistics and dates, it makes no sense. This is not the way we should use VAR. Just one centimeter.
What excites Hourmand the most is his decision to use the pedantic and confusing laws on handball contact to punish Anderson. “I’m tired of the ridiculous handball rules,” he said. “We can’t ask our defenders to run with weapons like this [flat to their side], this is unnatural. Joachim ran normally, that’s normal. He jumped and was knocked a meter away. I rarely talk about decisions but it was very decisive in our game.
“It’s frustrating for our team. If we were 1-0 up everything would change. In my opinion, that’s not what football is about.
Hjulmand emphasized that he was not opposed to VAR in principle, but questioned its application. “I think when a decision is good, it should be visible from the moon,” he said. “It shouldn’t depend on a few centimeters.”
The first half of the game was delayed due to thunderstorms, with both sides missing 25 minutes. In 2009, Hulmand was head coach of North Zealand when a player, Jonathan Richter, was struck by lightning during a reserve team game. After Richter fell into a coma, the lower part of his left leg was amputated.
“I wasn’t scared, I was just thinking about the safety of the players,” he said of his reaction to the harsh conditions. “I was in a game and lightning struck one of our players. [This time] Lightning struck directly above our heads. this is the right thing [to take the players off]”.
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann described himself as “a friend of VAR” and accused referee Michael Oliver of being “petty” for dismissing Nico Schloterback’s early goal. He’s happier focusing on his team’s victory. “We performed well in the face of adversity and the team’s resilience was great,” he said. “Hopefully the team will get rid of the old memory sticks and realize how good they actually are.”
