Speculation is rife in social media that the referees of the World Cup semifinals match between Argentina and the Netherlands on Tuesday should have overlooked Ron Vlaar's penalty goal for his home team. At first look, Argentinian goalkeeper Sergio Romero had saved the Dutch player's penalty goal attempt. However, new footage suggests that the first score during the very tense shootout in Sao Paulo would have actually gone to the Oranje.
Football fans have uploaded videos in various angles showing Vlaar's penalty kick. When the Aston Villa defender turned his back from the goalpost after Romero had saved the ball, the ball had spun back into the net and landed up to the goalline, where it stopped dead. At another angle, the ball appeared to have touched Vlaar, just brushing past his shoulder that had sent it to the goalpost after Romero had saved the ball.
Twitter user Ben Trow suggested that FIFA should have employed its goal line technology to address the speculation. He wrote, Here is @RonVlaar4's penalty from another angle. I think goal line technology needs to be used on penalties.
Sam King had thought that the ball actually went through without anyone noticing it. He said in his tweet, "That Ron Vlaar penalty is mad as if it actually went in and no one noticed."
Others had decided to ask Vlaar himself by tagging him into the tweet, Dean McAuley wrote, "@RonVlaar4 me and my friends are of the opinion your penalty actually spun back in. Could you clarify if you touched it a 2nd time. Thanks."
There is no word yet on whether FIFA, the Netherlands or Vlaar had addressed questions about the strange incident. On the other hand, it would be cruel for the player to at least acknowledge the strange event, given the fact that his performance in the match had been one of his best in the tournament, the Independent said.
At the moment, the Oranje is preparing to play its third-place match against Brazil on Saturday.
