Euro 2008: Dutch Delight, but Ruling Leaves Sour Taste

Millions of viewers around the world have watched the Dutch team produce the best performance of the tournament so far, destroying World Champions Italy 3-0 and slashing their odds of winning the tournament to 11/2.

But instead of drooling over great technical play, end-to-end wizardry, and one of the greatest goals in recent Championships’ memory (scored by Sneijder), we are once again debating whether the officials have gotten a decision right.

The Italians watching the incident on a replay inside the Wankdorf Stadium were under no illusion that the decision was "wrong."

Italian coach Roberto Donadoni claimed after the game, “I accept it. There's no point crying about it. The referee made a mistake. He's human."

But what looked to millions of confused armchair fans as a desperately poor decision was, in fact, a brilliant piece of officiating, according to the chairman of Austria's refereeing commission Gerhard Kapl and Premier League referees' chief Keith Hackett.

Both supported assistant referee Stefan Wittberg’s decision not to raise the flag and insisted that Van Nistelrooy was played onside by Italy's Christian Panucci, who had been injured seconds earlier and was lying behind the goal when the Dutch striker scored.

Kapl said the goal was "100 percent correct, without any doubt," quoting article 11.4.1. of the refereeing code that states "an opposing player cannot be offside when one of the last two defenders has left the field of play"—as in the case of Panucci.

Hackett added: "I have listened to the commentators criticising the first Holland goal stating that Van Nistelrooy was offside. Christian Panucci went off through contact with his own goalkeeper Buffon. He is still considered part of the game. The fact is the assistant was correct. The defender who slid off the field is still regarded as active."

So there you have it: onside—no argument.

The official rule clearly states that a player cannot leave the field of play without the referee’s permission. That is the overriding variable—the Italian defender is still active and playing Van Nistelrooy onside.

The issue is that the rule is really meant to stop teams "deliberately trying to seek an advantage." This was not the case in this match, and that is why it is an issue. Ultimately though, Panucci did not have Peter Frojdfeldt’s permission to leave the field of play.

However, while this suggests the rule needs amending in its wording, the rule as it stands definitely makes this goal onside.