Women's World Cup: Keepers face impossible task - Scotland's Leanne Crichton

By Heather Dewar.
BBC Scotland

 20 June 2019 Scotland

Goalkeepers face an impossible task saving penalties under new Fifa rules, says Scotland's Leanne Crichton.

The Scots were knocked out of the Women's World Cup following a 3-3 draw with Argentina after conceding a late twice-taken penalty.

VAR had ruled Scotland goalkeeper Lee Alexander had moved off her line when she saved the first attempt.

"I don't know any keeper in the world who will be able to save penalties with the new rules," the midfielder said.

"I think Lee's done fantastic to save the first penalty. It's very difficult. It's a tough one for us to take."

New rules introduced by Fifa before the Women's World Cup dictate that keepers must have at least one foot on the goalline when a penalty is struck.

Crichton, 31, who plays for Glasgow City, insisted decisions "probably cost" Shelley Kerr's side the match, after they let a 3-0 lead slide in the Group D showdown.

'Decisions through the game have cost us'

The Scots needed a win to give themselves a strong chance of progressing as one of the best third-placed sides, following 2-1 defeats against England and Japan.

Goals from Kim Little, Jen Beattie and Erin Cuthbert put them in a seemingly comfortable position, but Milagros Menendez pulled one back for Argentina before Florencia Bonsegundo added a second and then the third came at the second attempt from the controversial penalty.

The Scots were also unhappy that they were in the middle of making a substitution when the penalty was conceded.



Crichton added: "I think the refereeing decisions the whole way through the game have probably cost us the match in terms of the three points.

"We've done well to go ahead in the game with the three goals. I think when we're still 3-2 up, we're in a comfortable position to see the game out.

"I don't know what's happened with the substitutions. I don't know how there's no correspondence between the fourth official and the referee to indicate that there's players leaving the pitch. We didn't have 11 players on the park at the moment when we conceded the penalty."

The result left the Scots bottom of Group D, on one point, following their World Cup debut.

"I think we need to share the blame, and the referees need to," Crichton added. "There's no point in having two linesmen, a referee, a VAR camera that you can go and look at if you're not going to look at VAR for other decisions that decide games."

WisdomFlakes:
Hiss. Why celebrate when you people won't go beyond knockout stage. The quality of football exhibited by super falcons is very uninspiring.

martineverest:
what do u expect when u are playing top 5 teams in the world?

TSRC:
How sad would it be for cameroon to now qualify at our expense.

TSRC:
How sad would it be for cameroon to now qualify at our expense.

martineverest:
they need to beat Zealand by 3 goals