“VAR is destroying football”.. Koeman complains about refereeing in the European Nations

Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman admitted it was difficult to accept his country’s exit after losing 2-1 to England in the Euro 2024 semi-finals on Wednesday in Dortmund, after a controversial penalty decision and a late winner from substitute striker Ollie Watkins.
“I’m disappointed about the final result in a game that started well for us,” Koeman told reporters at Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion, where the Netherlands took the lead after seven minutes with a superb shot into the corner from Xavi Simons.
The captain of the Three Lions, Harry Kane, equalised in the 18th minute from a penalty kick, after Denzel Dumfries fouled the Bayern Munich striker when he was about to shoot inside the penalty area, so the German referee Felix Zwayer used the video assistant referee (VAR) to indicate the penalty mark.
The match looked to be heading for extra time, before substitute Watkins scored the winner in the first minute of stoppage time to put England into the final against Spain.
Koeman, 61, complained about the referee’s decision to award the penalty, saying: “What can you do as a defender? In my opinion, this should not have been a penalty.”
“We cannot play football properly because of the video assistant referee (VAR) this is destroying football,” he continued.
Koeman felt his team had taken control of the game after bringing on midfielder Joey Firman in the 35th minute for injured striker Memphis Depay, allowing the Oranje to halt England’s wave of attacks.
“We had some difficulties in midfield to stop good players like (Jude) Bellingham and (Phil) Foden between the lines,” said the former Barcelona coach.
“We didn’t control the game. We made some changes to do that and the feeling was that in the last 20 minutes we were the better team and attacking more,” he added. “But then the knockout blow came in the 90th minute. A great goal, and then it was over, and it’s hard to accept that.”
Koeman returned for a second spell as Netherlands coach after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when Louis van Gaal led the team to the quarter-finals (lost to Argentina on penalties).
The Netherlands’ run is their best in the European Cup since 2004, when they also exited in the semi-finals.
Koeman, who was without Barcelona playmaker Frenkie de Jong through injury for the continental tournament, insisted his players should “be proud, we have achieved a lot in these weeks”.
“This team is capable of doing more. In addition, more players will join us in the future. Some were not able to play because they were not fit, but the future is bright for us, we have to improve some aspects and we were close to the final,” he added.

“Defeat is hard”

For his part, Simons, who scored the opening goal, told the UEFA website: “This defeat is difficult. I am really disappointed and I think the team is too. But this is the beginning of a journey that will be bright. I am proud of the team.”
“Of course, you want to have the ball and control the game, but we know they are a good team and they want to have the ball as well. For most of the game we were compact, waiting for them to make a mistake, we had chances to finish the game, but in the end we were a bit tired.”
“It’s very difficult to sum up my feelings at the moment,” said goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. “I feel a bit empty. The dream has collapsed. I’m disappointed.”
Speaking about Kane’s penalty that earned England the equaliser, he said: “We prepared well. We had an idea of ​​what he was going to do. He did exactly what we thought he would do and I came close (to saving the ball), but it was a very good penalty, so all credit to (Harry) Kane.”
“I don’t know yet (what we could have done differently). I didn’t see anything in return. In the end, we defended a little bit more than we attacked… I never felt we would concede a goal, but unfortunately it happened,” he added.
Koeman was hoping to play the final in Berlin against Spain in a repeat of the 2010 World Cup final in South Africa, where the Netherlands suffered their third defeat in a World Cup final (0-1).
The Netherlands are preparing for new challenges in the UEFA Nations League, where they will face Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany in September.