The penalty shootout that explains the Argentines’ anger: was the Dutchman’s attitude “unsportsmanlike”?

The result was like in the neighborhood: shoves, slaps, insults and gestures. In part, he was attributed to the statements of the Dutch coach Louis van Gaal on the eve of the match between Argentina and the Netherlands at the Lusail stadium in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. But if the closure of an already excited match was volcanic, it was also due to what happened during the penalty shoot-out, in which the Europeans resorted to a tactic of emotional destabilization (not very effective in the light of the result).

In a hot environment like the one that reigned after 120 very hard minutes (which had included a skirmish with the intervention of substitutes and assistants after a throw by Leandro Paredes on the Dutch side), it was not unreasonable that some altercation could be generated extra being defined on penalties, with 19 protagonists enclosed in an area of ​​263 square meters delimited by the central circumference of the field.

Apart from the usual conversations between goalkeepers and players, the first discussion in the group happened when Enzo Fernandez started the walk towards the box to take a fourth shot from the Argentine, who was leading 3 – 2. Then Denzel Dumfries left the center circle and approached the Benfica player to try and intimidate him. Ángel Di María went to support his team-mate and keep the Dutch midfielder away. The first assistant, Pau Cebrián Devis, had to intervene to separate them, in charge of monitoring what was happening in midfield.

After the error of Fernández and the conversion of Luuk de Jong, Lautaro Martínez had to take the fifth penalty which could deposit Lionel Scaloni’s team in the semifinals. Faced with this decisive juncture, this time there were four Dutchmen trying to make him uncomfortable. Cebrián Devis had to be back in action. This time referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz left his position in the box and moved a few meters closer to book Dumfries, one of the members of the provocative poker.

Lautaro Martínez’s conversion sealed victory and it gave rise to the celebration of the winners, with gestures and shouts to the opponents included, and a new altercation on the pitch resulted in two more yellow cards shown by Mateu Lahoz: one for striker Noa Lang and another for Dumfries, who was sent off for it. The scrum got an extra chapter on the way to the locker room.

Beyond the blurred boundaries of sporting ethics, was the conduct of the Europeans punishable during the definition from 11 metres? Law 10 of Football (The result of a match) establishes in its point three (penalty shots) the disposition of the players on the field at the time of executions.

It specifies that only players authorized to participate in penalty shootouts and members of the refereeing team can remain on the field of play, and that players, with the exception of the one about to shoot and the two goalkeepers, they have to wait inside the central circlewhich is why excursions by the Dutch to chat with Argentine footballers were illegal.

What about yellow for Dumfries? Rule 12 (Foul and misconduct) strictly establishes which offenses are punishable by a caution. Among these he mentions the “Unsporting Conduct”. In detailing which actions are included in that definition, he mentions that of “distracting an opponent with words and comments during the match or during a restart”, so the punishment for the Inter player was correct, even if the his companions who imitated him.