Former England captain Alan Shearer, speaking on BBC 5 Live, said: “England players are looking at the referee, they think there is a collision. Denzel Dumfries does connect with Harry Kane. There was no contact to the ball from Dumfries.”
Michael Owen, who controversially won a penalty at the World Cup against Argentina in 2002 that David Beckham scored, also said England had “got lucky” with the penalty.
Uefa’s appointment of Zwayer was controversial because he was embroiled in a match-fixing scandal earlier in his career.
In 2006, Zwayer admitted taking money from banned referee Robert Hoyzer, who was accused of match-fixing but not of altering the outcome of a game. Zwayer was given a six-month DFB ban, having been one of the officials who brought Hoyzer’s match-fixing plot to light.
England and Netherlands’ history of controversy
Wednesday is not the first time that a refereeing controversy had become a major talking point following a big match between England and Netherlands.
During qualification for the 1994 World Cup, England’s David Platt was infamously denied a clearing scoring opportunity by Koeman, who was mistakenly spared a red card before later striking a match-winning free-kick. Koeman, now the nation’s manager, added his voice to criticism of the penalty decision for Harry Kane on Wednesday. “Football is getting broken with these type of calls by VAR,” Koeman added.
Thanks to Ollie Watkins’ winner in the 90th minute, England have the chance to become European champions for the first time this weekend.