This is the kind of decision that festers long after the final whistle. Spain were left seething in the Los Angeles heat after a Marc Cucurella goal w...
This is the kind of decision that festers long after the final whistle. Spain were left seething in the Los Angeles heat after a Marc Cucurella goal was chalked off for a foul on Austrian goalkeeper Alexander Schlager during their round of 32 clash, as reported by GoalZaza. The full back had bundled the ball into the net and wheeled away in celebration, only to see the official's arm raised and the joy turn to fury.Was it really a foul That is the question burning through the Spanish camp right now. From the replays circulating around the press box, there was contact at the corner of the six yard box, no doubt about that. Cucurella, never a player to shy away from the physical side of the game, went shoulder to shoulder with Schlager. But whether that constituted a free kick or a good old fashioned battle for territory is the kind of grey area that keeps referees employed and managers pacing their technical areas late into the night.The heat in Los Angeles was oppressive, and the pitch looked heavy underfoot, making crisp transitional play difficult for both sides. Austria, set up in a disciplined low block, had frustrated Spain for long stretches. Cucurella's run into the box was the one moment of incision La Roja had managed all half. To see it wiped away, and to feel the momentum shift back towards the Austrian bench, left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Spanish support who had made the journey across the Atlantic.For Spain, the frustration is not just about one disallowed goal. It is about the feeling that a game they had controlled in terms of possession was slipping away from them due to a subjective call. There was no clinical finishing to salvage the mood, no second chance to right the wrong. The game drifted into a scrappy stalemate, a proper park the bus affair from the Austrians who celebrated the final whistle like a victory.Cucurella himself looked like a man who had been mugged in broad daylight as he trudged off the pitch. His teammates surrounded the referee, but it was too late. The damage was done. Football, as they say, is a game of fine margins, and this one will haunt the Spanish dressing room all the way back to the hotel.And what of the Austrian perspective Schlager was quick to milk the contact, falling to the turf as if struck by a sniper. That theatrical element, the dark art of the goalkeeper's trade, only added to the sense of injustice from the Spanish side. GoalZaza understands the debate will rage on in the post match analysis, but the scoreline does not lie. A goal that was, a goal that wasn't, and a result that leaves Spain howling at the moon.
