Dutch lament 'legal goal' ruled out in France draw

Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman said the referee made a mistake in ruling out a goal for his side against France at the European Championship on Friday but added that both sides were happy with a point in their 0-0 Group D draw.

A second-half strike from Xavi Simons was chalked off because Denzel Dumfries, standing offside next to goalkeeper Mike Maignan, was penalised with the decision eventually confirmed by VAR after a lengthy delay.

But Koeman said he looked at images of the incident afterward and strongly disagreed with English referee Anthony Taylor.

“The position of Dumfries is offside, that’s true. But he isn’t disturbing the goalkeeper. And when that does not happen then it’s a legal goal in my opinion,” the Dutch coach said during a postmatch news conference.

“Did they need five minutes to check it because it’s so difficult? I don’t understand this. He’s not disturbing the goalkeeper,” Koeman added.

But the goalless stalemate was a satisfactory outcome for both sides, he said.

The game fizzled into a tepid ending, ensuring the two sides reached four points and will almost surely advance to the knockout stage

“Although I think that the goal should have stood, my takeaway from this is it is a fair result.

“I can accept this, although there were times during the game where we weren’t up to scratch and that’s probably due to the fact that we were up against a great opponent in France.

“But we have four points from two games and played against the big favourites. I would have signed up for that beforehand. I’m happy, I don’t know about you,” he asked reporters.

“Maybe you’ll say the Dutch were boring and defensive, and that is allowed. But I had the feeling France were happy to leave the field with a point too.”

Dutch captain Virgil van Diyk also said the goal should have stood.

“Our goal was valid from what I could see from behind,” he said. “France had their chances but we also had an opportunity or two on the counter. So a point it is.

“The fight we showed was positive, we have a point and now we go ahead. We have it all still in our own hands.”

Simons said there was no point arguing about the goal decision.

“The VAR makes the decision, ultimately you can’t do anything about it,” the 21-year-old said.

“I can say something, but it won’t change anything. It’s the referee’s choice; we have to move on.”

He too seemed satisfied with the point.

“The most important thing was to give a good performance. We knew France’s qualities and of course we wanted to win, but we took a point,” Simons said.

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.