2023-07-28 01:45:46
South Africa and Argentina were surprised when the referee intervened in the 30th minute. This was preceded by a curious scene in front of the gate.
It was actually already a final for Argentina and South Africa in Group G. The two teams had lost their opening games and now they were doomed to win in a direct comparison. The South Africans got off to a better start in the not-sold-out stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand, creating a number of good attacking chances.
However, it took until the 30th minute before anything countable came out. Argentina’s team was up high, their defense close to the halfway line, when South Africa played an interface pass in depth and suddenly Chrestinah Thembi Kgatlana found a lot of open space in front of her. South Africa’s 2019 Female Footballer of the Year thought she was offside. With the ball at her feet, she sauntered through the opposition half rather than ran.
Argentina were also convinced it was an offside position. Their defenders made little move to steal the ball from Kgatlana. They let her pull toward the gate. Only South Africa’s winger Linda Motlhalo felt the situation wasn’t over yet. She sprinted towards goal, called for the ball from Kgatlana and put it past Argentina’s bewildered goalkeeper.
Even when it’s 2-0, a whistle suddenly sounds
Nobody on the field cheered. In the ranks, too, the battle loafers who had traveled along watched in disbelief at what was happening. Argentina’s defenders just raised their hands and looked at the referee to indicate an offside position. But it wasn’t offside. Kgatlana hadn’t been within the forbidden zone by a razor-thin.
After the video referee watched the replay of the attack, drew all the lines and radioed the result of the check back onto the field, referee Anna-Marie Keighley from New Zealand declared the goal legal. No offside. 1-0 for South Africa.
The Cape footballers couldn’t believe their luck. The opening goal gave them a boost, and they even made it 2-0 just before the break. A whistle sounded again this time and the linesman’s flag went up. This time it was offside. And clearly.
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