Izuchukwu OkosiFormer FIFA match official Keith Hackett has opined that Manchester City was unjustly handed a penalty against Everton when both sides met at Goodison Park on Wednesday night with the English champions winning 3-1.
John Brooks was the man in the middle when the English champions, just back from their FIFA Club World Cup commitments, came from a goal down to beat Everton 3-1 as they plan to mount a serious title challenge on the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, and Aston Villa.
Everton went ahead through Jack Harrison but City levelled up through Phil Foden whose long-range strike beat Jack Pickford for his fifth Premier League goal of the season.
The highlight of the game came when Amadou Onana was penalized for inadvertently handling the ball inside the box and Julian Alvarez slotted past Pickford from 12 yards.
Bernardo Silva converted the third goal for Pep Guardiola’s side after a goalkeeping howler from Pickford.
Hackett was critical of the goal and believed that Brooks was wrong with his decision.
“The handball law amended by David Elleray and the IFAB to make decision-making easier has succeeded in doing the opposite. It promotes inconsistency which leads to these decisions,” Hackett noted in response to an X (Twitter) post by a fan.
“Was there a deliberate movement of hand to ball – poor decision?” Hackett further wrote.
What is the ‘handball law’ in football?
The handball law says it is an offence if a player:
1. Deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball
2. Touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger.
3. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation.
4. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalized.
5. Scores in the opponents’ goal:
6. Directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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