Was it penalty?

[DJPedram]

[DJPedram]

[Z Joon]

Wow no poll? Agha Pedram tab dari? Poll kojast?

[DJPedram]

Wow no poll? Agha Pedram tab dari? Poll kojast?

Poll are only for score prediction.

[Z Joon]

Poll are only for score prediction.

I will leave very disappointed.

[webmaster]

it was no penalty, because the Chinese player shot the ball before he got fouled on.

[NFL]

it was a 50/50 call but IMO, It wasn't called a penalty because the the player in Red never established position of the ball, so the ball was a "50/50" ball and therefore both players have the right to the space. no way a ref will call that a penalty, unless he is officiating a KSA game, of course!

[teammelli91]

No, it wasn't a penalty.

[Iran_19]

It was a penalty to me and we got lucky to be honest.

[FeLFeL]

Of course It was.

If somebody had committed a foul like that against us in the last minutes of a WCQ match in the box...Ooo weeeee....We woulda broke the damn internet...but these calls go 50/50 all the time based on its particular situation and timing. It was our lucky day.

[khodam]

As said by others it cannot be a penalty if the ball has already been played. However, a dangerous play can still get cautioned at any point of the game. Let's say a referee stops the game for a throw in just before someone slide tackles and cuts down an opponent from behind. The correct action will be a red/yellow card to the sliding player and to restart the game from a throw-in. IMO this should have been a card for Iran. But should the ref decide to call it, it can only be an indirect shot (dangerous play similar to a high kick - one of the only two indirect free kicks in soccer).

[pandora]

As said by others it cannot be a penalty if the ball has already been played. ...

That is not true. The rule book says, a penalty is given when a foul worthy of a direct free kick is committed inside the box. A direct free kick is given when a deliberate(even if it is a non-intentional contact) foul is committed. Nothing to do with how close the players were to the ball, nothing to do with whether the ball was played or not. I have seen a penalty given in a WC even before the ball was launched into the box because the defender tackled down an attacker about to receive the ball. If the ball was already shot and the defender commits an intentional contact, that is actually far worse and usually results in a penalty(if it is the other way around - the defender clears the ball first - it is OK no matter how hard the tackle is, though many AFC referees get emotional and will issue a foul in favor of the hard tackled attacker out of sympathy - reckless play as an excuse).

But sometimes a referee will ignore such a foul depending on how serious the contact is. Or it may be considered that an advantage(not calling the foul so that the attacker can continue the scoring opportunity) was declared. However if a foul is called it is a penalty in this situation. And this situation is not all that different from many missed penalties that Iranian fans complain about regularly. If you liked this non-call you should tone down on your complaints when it is the other way around.

[Gotham]

Take it from a ref, it really was 50/50. I personally wouldn't have given it because there just wasn't enough, looked like he played it too and he also kicked the ball really far ahead of himself. That said, wouldn't be critical one bit if a ref DID give it...

[BehnamT]

why is it a foul even? both players have the leg high at the same level at the same time. why is it a fault for chines advantage and not ours?

[Nader25]

it was.....