Spain vs France: The Yamal Penalty Was Correct, Even If It Didn't Feel That Way
Twenty two minutes into Spain's World Cup semi final against France in Dallas, Marc Cucurella's cross was headed up by Lucas Digne. Digne turned to clear it and, without seeing Lamine Yamal arrive on his blindside, kicked him in the leg inside the box. Referee Ivan Barton pointed to the spot immediately, according to Athlon Sports. Mikel Oyarzabal buried the kick, and Spain never looked back on their way to a 2-0 win and a place in the final.
The controversy started before the whistle even blew for the foul. Replays showed the ball may have brushed Yamal's arm moments earlier as it dropped, and Kylian Mbappe was among the France players protesting that a handball should have wiped out the penalty entirely, per Athlon Sports. VAR reviewed it and stayed out. No overturn.
That is the correct process, whether or not it produces the outcome France wanted. Under the Laws of the Game, a handball only voids what follows if it's a clear and obvious infringement, punishable in its own right. Multiple outlets covering the replay, including Athlon Sports, described Yamal's arm as tucked close to his body when the ball made contact, which is generally enough to clear a player of wrongdoing. If that's what the officials on site and in the VAR booth saw too, awarding the penalty was not a mistake. It was the rulebook working as intended.
France's anger is easy to understand. The sequence happened in the space of a second or two, the ball came off Yamal's arm before Digne's boot came off Yamal's shin, and in a semi final with a World Cup final on the line, every fraction of a second gets replayed at full speed by furious people on social media. But proximity in time is not the same as cause and effect. The question was never whether contact happened. It was whether that contact was punishable. Nothing reported from the broadcast or the officiating explanation suggests it was.
Controversy has a way of retroactively deciding right and wrong. If Digne hadn't fouled Yamal seconds later, nobody argues about the earlier contact at all. The outrage exists because of what happened next, not because of clear video proof that Yamal cheated. Unless that proof shows up, VAR had no basis to intervene, and it didn't.
Oyarzabal scored from the spot. Pedro Porro added a second in the 58th minute off a give and go with Dani Olmo, according to ESPN. Spain shut out one of the tournament's most dangerous attacks and moved on to face the winner of Argentina and England. The penalty decision will keep getting replayed in France. It shouldn't have been reversed.
