There was a lot of drama in the opening half of the match between Ilves and FC Inter. Timo Stavitski’s handsome shot hit the goal, but the jury did not accept it as a hit.
In the Veikkausliiga football league, in Saturday’s first game between Tampere Ilves and Turku Inter, a situation was seen where a clear goal was missed by the referees.
The controversial goal situation was seen when Ilves was leading the fight in Valkeakoski on the Tehtaa field 1–0.
Turku Inter Timo Stavitsky the shot went through the top bar and past Ilves Take Virtanen. The ball bounced through the top bar several tens of centimeters over the goal line. Match referee Oliver Reitala however, signaled the game to continue by his assistant referees Mikko Alakareen and Olli Jantunen under.
Inter’s coaching staff immediately sacked the fourth referee Lasse Siukkolan to criticize the decision.
The situation was soon repeated on Ruuttu’s broadcast. The still image clearly showed how the ball shot by Stavitski sank all the way to the goal.
– There’s a goal! Quite an obvious goal! Stavitski’s shot lands thirty centimeters inside the goal line, the match commentator Tapio Suominen exclaimed when he saw the still image of the situation.
The Veikkausliiga does not use a video referee system, i.e. VAR, or goal line technology. The fate of Inter’s goal situation would have been solved with the help of the latter, if one were in use in Finland.
However, there has been a lot of discussion about the result of VAR in the series. In an interview with STT (you switch to another service) previously experienced referee Antti Munukka called its acquisition in Finland’s main league a “credibility question”.
Read more: Even in such football lilliput countries, VAR is in use – a tough message from a referee expert about the situation in Finland
The opening half finally saw a total of three accepted goals.
The opening hit of the match was a style example of the Ilves team’s ball movement. The Ilves players composed the ball elegantly with eleven passes to the Inter penalty area, where the midfielder Petteri Pennanen the Inter goalkeeper shook it past Eetu Huuhtanen.
You can see Ilves’ great hit in the video below.
Inter leveled the match after a disallowed goal. He scored the 1-1 goal with his second goal of the season Darren Smith.
However, Ilves soon regained the lead when Tampere was awarded a penalty kick. Petteri Pennanen scored his second hit of the day already in the opening half.
The struggle is still going on. It will be played in Valkeakoski instead of Tampere, because Ilves’ actual home ground in Ratina is not yet in playing condition.