As a USSF referee, here are the factors that affect a handling foul:
- was the contact ball to hand or hand to ball?
- was the hand/arm in a normal playing position or did the defender try to make himself "bigger" by the use of his hand/arm?
- did the defender have time to avoid ball to hand contact?
There is a reason that the ball to hand contact in previous matches was not whistled: they did not meet the above criteria...and neither did the incident in the Australia-Netherlands match. At the distance involved, it was impossible for the defender to prevent ball to hand contact. The question then becomes: was the hand/arm in a normal playing position? That is all that can be debated. As the commentators indicated, the answer appeared to be yes. VERDICT: Not handling; should not have been a PK.
As a USSF referee, here are the factors that affect a handling foul:
- was the contact ball to hand or hand to ball?
- was the hand/arm in a normal playing position or did the defender try to make himself "bigger" by the use of his hand/arm?
- did the defender have time to avoid ball to hand contact?
There is a reason that the ball to hand contact in previous matches was not whistled: they did not meet the above criteria...and neither did the incident in the Australia-Netherlands match. At the distance involved, it was impossible for the defender to prevent ball to hand contact. The question then becomes: was the hand/arm in a normal playing position? That is all that can be debated. As the commentators indicated, the answer appeared to be yes. VERDICT: Not handling; should not have been a PK.