goal

Erling Haaland’s goal for Man City should not have been overturned by VAR in derby at United, admits referee body.

Professional Game Referees (Pro Ref) admitted on Sunday that the decision to allow Erling Haaland’s winner in Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United was an “error of judgment”.

With City down to 10 men after Phil Foden’s dismissal for kicking Bruno Fernandes, Haaland netted on the hour mark with a close-range finish from Josko Gvardiol’s cross.

The goal was initially disallowed for offside against Haaland, but VAR eventually overturned that decision, even though City midfielder Enzo Fernandez was in an offside position and attempted to reach the ball before the Norwegian forward.

Fernandez did not touch the ball, so the goal was given, allowing Haaland to celebrate his ninth league strike in Manchester derbies.

Premier League Match Centre posted on social media after the goal to say the VAR “determined that Haaland was in an onside position” and “deemed that while in an offside position, Fernandez didn’t play the ball”.

However, Pro Ref later on Sunday said the VAR “did not recognise the likely impact” of the Argentine midfielder’s position and “should have recommended an on-field review”.

“Contact has been made with Manchester United this evening to acknowledge what we deem is an error of judgment. A review of the incident will take place,” the statement added.

After the match, United manager Michael Carrick said it was “worrying” that a team of officials had come to the conclusion that Haaland’s goal should stand.

Lisandro Martinez was the United defender at the centre of the controversy.

The Argentine said he was clearly impacted by the presence of his international teammate Fernandez and branded the City goal an “injustice”.

“I went to him because he was in front of me. That’s why Haaland was free at the back,” Martinez told Sky Sports.

“Five or six people [officials] doing this kind of mistake in the Premier League is unacceptable.

“We have to go home with this injustice.”

With Haaland’s goal settling the match, United were unsurprisingly disappointed by the decision.

“I think it was offside,” said Martinez. “And what I can’t understand is the rules. I want to be calm now, I want to control myself.

“It’s so hard because you lose a derby, you lose three points at home, and every season they’re [referees] coming to our club, they explain for one hour the rules, and they look so confident with that, and then after [there are] five or six people doing these kind of mistakes in the Premier League – it’s unacceptable.

“It’s the best league in the world, you have the best teams in the world, the best players in the world, and now we have to go home with this injustice.”

United boss Carrick also expressed his confusion.

“We put things in place in the game now, we have people in offices with all the screens for this decision,” he said.

“It’s more worrying about if that’s the interpretation of football now. If that’s the interpretation of not interfering in the game now, that’s really worrying for me. It’s a staggering explanation.

“The decision isn’t going to change the season, but it’s had a major impact on the game.”

Wayne Rooney, part of the BBC’s MOTD2 team, said: “Surely it’s offside. Martinez is impacted by Fernandez’s movement, and he is offside.”

Gary Neville said on Sky Sports: “I think we’ll see some sort of apology from the referee’s association, there’s no doubt Fernandez is playing that ball and is trying to put off Martinez. I think it’s one they’ll recognising they got wrong.”

Micah Richards added: “I think it’s been a bad day for referees. They got the Foden decision wrong and the Fernandez decision wrong. I think they got it so wrong but I don’t think it takes anything away from City’s performance.”

Meanwhile, City boss Maresca said: “I think it was onside clearly so it’s good.”

Angel City and the Denver Summit played to a 3-3 draw at BMO Stadium on Friday.

Angel City (9-8-6) opened the scoring in the 45th minute when defender Sarah Gorden intercepted the ball and immediately played it to Maiara Niehues for a goal. The midfielder matched the club record with her eighth goal of the season.

Denver forward Yuzuki Yamamoto scored for the third straight game in the 49th minute with a shot from inside the box. A minute later, Lindsey Heaps scored her first goal for the Summit (8-8-7) on a rebound.

Janine Sonis added a long-range goal for the Summit in the 61st minute to give Denver a 3-1 lead.

On a breakaway in the 63rd minute, Angel City’s Sveindís Jonsdottir passed the ball to Prisca Chilufya for a tap-in. It was initially ruled offside but video review overturned the call.

Later, Denver defender Ayo Oke’s high boot in the box caught Angel City midfielder Ally Sentnor in the face. Sentnor converted on the ensuing penalty kick for the final goal in the 74th minute.

Ashley Sanchez scored twice to break the single-season goals record for the North Carolina Courage in a 2-0 victory over Angel City on Wednesday night.

The former All-American at UCLA leads the National Women’s Soccer League in scoring this season with 15 goals.

Sanchez scored her 14th goal in the 41st minute, tying Lynn Biyendolo’s record for the North Carolina set in 2019. Evelyn Ijeh’s backheel flick found a charging Sanchez, who blasted it into the far corner.

Sanchez added her record-breaker in the 78th, running down a long ball sent forward by Courage goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan and out-running three Angel City defenders before burying her shot. Sheridan, who got the assist, ran up the field after the goal to celebrate with Sanchez.

Sanchez also had a pair of goals in the Courage’s 2-1 victory over the Boston Legacy on Saturday. North Carolina has won (11-3-7) has won five of its last six games.

The loss ended a four-game streak of draws for Angel City (7-6-7). Angel City played to a scoreless tie at home with Gotham on Sunday.

North Carolina’s Maycee Bell made her 50th NWSL regular-season appearance but she was injured early in the second half and had to be stretchered off with an apparent arm injury.

Denis Bouanga scored late in the second half and LAFC escaped with a 1-1 draw after trailing the Portland Timbers for 75 minutes at BMO Stadium on Saturday night.

David Da Costa took a pass from Kristoffer Velde in the fourth minute and scored his third goal this season to give Portland a 1-0 lead that it carried into the 79th minute.

That’s when Bouanga used assists from Jude Terry and Aaron Long to knot the score with his 11th goal of the season.

Portland forward Vincent Janssen, who entered in the 69th minute, picked up yellow cards in the 89th and third minute of stoppage time to leave the Timbers down a man.

But, James Pantemis finished off a 10-save night for Portland (8-9-4) — including his final one on a shot by Bouanga in the final minute of stoppage time — to keep it tied.

Pantemis had five saves in the first half with four of them coming in the first 22 minutes.

Hugo Lloris turned away one shot for LAFC (10-7-5), which was coming off back-to-back 1-0 losses.

Portland is 4-1-2 in its last seven matches.

The Timbers beat LAFC on their last trip to BMO Stadium and lead the all-time series 7-6-8.

Up next for LAFC: at D.C. United on Saturday.

Joseph Paintsil scored a short-handed goal in the 79th minute to lead the Galaxy to a 1-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday night.

Paintsil used assists from rookie defender Harbor Miller and Marco Reus to find the net for the fifth time this season. Miller’s helper was his second, while Reus collected his seventh.

The Galaxy (6-8-7) were forced to play a man down from the 45th minute on after midfielder Lucas Sanabria was tagged with a pair of yellow cards in the final nine minutes of the first half.

JT Marcinkowski saved five shots for the Galaxy for his third clean sheet in 16 starts this season.

Hirving “Chucky” Lozano started in his first home match for the Galaxy after coming off the bench last time out in his debut.

Angus Gunn totaled six saves for San Jose (10-7-3) in his fifth MLS start. The 30-year-old surrendered 12 goals in his first four outings.

The Galaxy ended an 0-3-3 winless skid and won for the first time since beating the Sounders 2-0 in Seattle on May 16.

San Jose has dropped three in a row and is 0-4-1 since July 1.

The two clubs played to a 1-1 draw in San Jose earlier this season.