Quindío's Phantom Penalty Sent Tolima Out of the Copa BetPlay
Deportes Tolima played almost the entire second leg of their Copa BetPlay tie against Deportes Quindío a man light, and it still wasn't the numbers that beat them. It was a penalty call in stoppage time that shouldn't have stood.
Tolima's night unraveled early. Goalkeeper Miguel Ortega was sent off in the fourth minute for denying a clear goal-scoring chance, per El Tiempo, forcing the team to finish the match down a man from almost the first whistle. Somehow they still led at the break, Edwar López scoring in first-half stoppage time. Then midfielder Jorge Hurtado was dismissed in the 71st minute for punching an opponent, leaving Tolima to play out the rest of the tie with nine men, as Diario Deportes reported.
Even at nine men, Tolima were seconds from going through. José David Lloreda had pulled Quindío level in the 65th minute, but the aggregate scoreline still favored the visitors. Then, in stoppage time, referee Ricardo Pabón pointed to the penalty spot for a handball in the box. Lloreda converted, forcing the tie to penalties at 3-3 on aggregate, and Quindío advanced.
Here's the problem, laid out clearly by GolCaracol, Semana, and Pulzo, all pointing to the same replay: the ball never touched a Tolima defender's arm. It struck the arm of Quindío's own attacker, mid-attack. There's no version of the handball law under which that's a penalty for Quindío. And because the Copa BetPlay isn't running VAR at this stage of the tournament, there was no way to catch it once Pabón made the call.
That's the part worth sitting with. Nobody needs to accuse Pabón of bias to see the problem. A handball inside a crowded box, at full speed, is one of the hardest calls in the sport to get right in real time. What's harder to defend is a knockout competition deciding who survives on a call like that with zero review mechanism available, in a season where Dimayor is actively expanding VAR's powers one competition over, in the Liga BetPlay.
Tolima manager Sebastián Oliveros said as much afterward, telling reporters the tournament needs the technology, per Semana. He shouldn't have had to be the one making that case.
Quindío move on to face Llaneros. Nobody should blame them for taking it. But the shootout that got them there only happened because of a goal that should never have been given.
