Home Football Alan Shearer condemns ‘awful decision’ not to give Scotland a late penalty and questions why VAR didn’t intervene on ‘clear and blatant blunder’… before Hungary scored in the 100th minute

Alan Shearer condemns ‘awful decision’ not to give Scotland a late penalty and questions why VAR didn’t intervene on ‘clear and blatant blunder’… before Hungary scored in the 100th minute

Football — 06/24/2024

Alan Shearer thinks Hungary destroyed Scotland’s hopes of making it to the Euro 2024 knockout rounds in the final seconds by denying them a stonewall penalty.

With almost the final kick of the game, Kevin Csoboth scored a breakaway goal to give Hungary a 1-0 victory and three points in Group A, eliminating the Scots.

Scotland will still have to wait to get to the World Cup or Euros knockout stage, but if a contentious call in the 79th minute had gone in their favour, things might have turned out differently.

Huge calls for a penalty were made after Stuart Armstrong was tackled from behind by Willi Orban and went down in the box.

Play was waved on by the referee, but replays revealed that the Hungarian defender made significant contact with the Southampton player.

There were huge appeals for a penalty when Willi Orban (R) challenged Stuart Armstrong (L)+5View gallery

There were huge appeals for a penalty when Willi Orban (R) challenged Stuart Armstrong (L)

Replays showed that Orban made clear contact with Armstrong but no penalty was given

VAR did not intervene and Shearer can’t believe that they did not.   

Speaking after the game on on BBC One, he said: ‘I thought the referee gave a terrible decision when Scotland should have had a penalty. For me it was a penalty all day..’ 

‘Clear penalty for me. I think the assistant had a great view. It’s a terrible challenge. He gets caught and takes him out. His right knee on to his calf. Clearly. 

‘That for me is a clear, clear penalty. I think that is a clear and obvious error. Clearly he’s taken him down.

Alan Shearer said it was a terrible decision from the officials not to award a spot-kick+5View gallery

Alan Shearer said it was a terrible decision from the officials not to award a spot-kick

Scottish manager David Moyes agreed and labelled it a 'reckless challenge' from the defender+5View gallery

Scottish manager David Moyes agreed and labelled it a ‘reckless challenge’ from the defender

Scottish manager David Moyes was sat next to the Newcastle icon in the studio and agreed.

‘I think that’s a penalty kick as well,’ he said. ‘That’s a reckless challenge from the defender. We were all shouting here that VAR will at least check that.’

Hungary will have to wait and see if they can get a spot in the top four third-place finishers’ bracket to advance to the round of 16.

Scotland's heartbreaking defeat means they have been eliminated from the tournament+5View gallery

Following their devastating loss, Scotland has been eliminated from the competition.

Now, their advancement depends on other groups’ outcomes during the course of the following three days. For the time being, though, Marco Rossi’s team will celebrate their thrilling triumph that kept them alive just when they thought they were going home.

The game was a scrappy affair, with neither club being able to impose any dominance over the other despite needing to win in order to stay in Germany.

Steve Clarke’s Scotland did dominate possession in the opening 25 minutes but could not fashion any clear-cut chances. In fact, despite possessing 61% of the ball, they had zero shots in the first half. They failed to score a single goal during the game.