Belgium Have a Point About Michael Oliver, Even in Defeat

Charles De Ketelaere had just pulled Belgium level, and for eleven minutes the Red Devils were even with the tournament favourites. Then Spain scored again through a Rodri handball incident that never went to review, and again through substitute Mikel Merino in the 88th minute, and Belgium's World Cup was over.

Fabian Ruiz opened the scoring in the 30th minute before De Ketelaere restored parity 11 minutes later, and Mikel Merino then scored the winner in the 88th, his second goal off the bench in as many matches, sending Spain through to face France. The scoreline says Spain deserved it. The night says Belgium have a legitimate grievance about how they got there.

The flashpoint came when Aymeric Laporte's header struck Rodri's arm inside the Spain box. Under IFAB's handball law, contact is exempt when the ball comes off a teammate's head or body first, and referee Michael Oliver waved off the appeal without sending it to review. That reading of the law has since been defended by refereeing analysts. What's harder to defend is that a genuine flashpoint in the box got no on-field look at all, in the same tournament where a far softer penalty shout for Belgium against Senegal ran through a seven-minute VAR review earlier in the competition.

It wasn't just the one call. A referee-focused analysis of the match noted that criticism centred on a series of soft or wrong foul decisions, more than is typical for an official of Oliver's level. Coach Rudi Garcia said as much himself, asking publicly why the VAR did not intervene on the Rodri incident. Blogger

Belgium also went in short-handed. Captain Youri Tielemans was already out before kickoff, and Belgium lost Thibaut Courtois to a second-half substitution along with an unplanned withdrawal of Kevin De Bruyne, Garcia said afterward. Fewer stoppages, less disruption, and Belgium have more of the rhythm they needed to press an advantage that never fully arrived. Belga News Agency

None of this changes that Spain were the better side over 90 minutes, or that Merino's finish came from sustained control rather than a gifted decision. But Belgium's frustration wasn't manufactured after the final whistle. A review that never happened isn't the same as a review that would have changed nothing.