Campeones Cup: Columbus Crew evaluate the 'fine line' of loss vs Club America in PKs
From all angles of the field, members of the Crew's roster and coaching staff clearly recognized that Club America goalkeeper Luis Malagon jumped off his line ahead of Malte Amundsen's penalty kick attempt in the shootout to decide the Campeones Cup winner.
On Wednesday, the Crew faced Liga MX's Club America for the Campeones Cup in a winner-take-all match at Lower.com Field. When regulation finished in a 1-1 draw, the game went straight to penalty kicks and after seven attempts from each team, Club America captured the trophy with a 5-4 victory in the shootout.
Replay: Columbus Crew lose Campeones Cup, falling to Club America 5-4 in PKs
The Crew and Club America were evenly matched throughout the shootout, starting with a make with their first attempts. After both goalkeepers recorded a save the opponent's sixth attempt, the two teams' lockstep came to an end when Amundsen stepped up for his penalty kick.
Amundsen was coming off his first goal of the season in regulation, which tied and eventually sent the match to a shootout, with the penalty kick score tied 4-4.
As Amundsen approached the ball from the right, Malagon jumped off the goalkeeper line in the last second before Amundsen's attempt. From the other side of the field on Crew's sideline, coach Wilfried Nancy and forward Chrisitan Ramirez could tell Malagon jumped. Goalkeeper Patrick Schulte confirmed he also saw the violation, standing just feet away on the side of the goal.
As Malagon jumped and dove to his right, Amundsen's shot went high on Malagon's left, hit the crossbar and missed. Following the goalkeeper violation, however, the question of if the attempt should be retaken was left to the officials' discretion.
"I know there's a little gray area in the wording of the rules," Ramirez said. "So, my understanding is if he would’ve dove that way, then it would have been retaken, but because he dove the other way, it's not. So, that's the fine line of losing in penalties."
According to the FIFA penalty kick guidelines, if there's goalkeeper violation on an attempt that hits the crossbar, the attempt is only retaken if the player was impacted by the violation. Based on the decision not to have Amundsen retake his shot, the officials felt Amundsen wasn't impacted by Malagon's violation.
When referring back to the no-call following the game, Nancy could only laugh at the irony of the decision.
"The referee, I know that he wants to do his job well," Nancy said. "He did a good job during the PKs to tell the players you have to put the ball on the line. The goalkeepers, they did not have the right to move and they were not able to touch the crossbar and so on. He was so good on that. But when Malte took the PK, the goalkeeper was not on his line.
"You have to make the call, the obvious call on the PK with the goalkeeper in front. And they (the officials) said that the PK (violation) didn't affect the shot on the goal and the fact that we missed the goal? Wow."
Malte Amundsen focuses on his ability to 'learn from things' following Columbus Crew loss to Club America
At the center of the penalty kick controversy for the Crew was Amundsen.
Amundsen missed that seventh and final attempt for Columbus. Following Amundsen's attempt, Club America's Nestor Araujo stepped up and hit the last penalty kick of the game by sending the ball to the left of Schulte to win the trophy.
In regulation, it was Amundsen who having one of the best games of his season on both sides of the field. Amundsen was a key reason the defense held Club America to one goal, and also found the one opening in Club America's defense off a corner kick in the 77th minute.
"I saw Christian (Ramirez) was gonna get his head on the ball," Amundsen said. "And I just tried to get in front of the guy in case he didn't hit the goal. And that's how the goal came about.”
Still, the 26-year-old finished the game on a sour note. With Amundsen's four years of experience in MLS, which includes two MLS Cup titles, Amundsen says he knows how to move past this type of outcome.
"I'm a product of things that happened to me before. I think everyone is," Amundsen said. "And that is ups and downs and sometimes you got to learn from things and that hopefully will put you in a better situation going forward.”
Columbus Crew vs Club America foul margin closed significantly in second half of Campeones Cup
Before the penalty kick no-call would frustrate the Crew, there were no-calls from the officials during regulation that Columbus players had already voiced their opinions on throughout the match.
By the end of the game, the Crew had recorded 13 fouls compared to Club America's 11, but in the first half the margin was much wider. Columbus had recorded nine fouls and Club America had three.
"It’s a game of thin margins, especially in a championship, high emotions," Ramirez said. "We just want it to be as even as possible with certain plays. But overall, I think we controlled ourselves and started to dictate the game. We grew into the game very well. So proud of the guys.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew lose to Club America in Campeones Cup PKs: Takeaways
