England’s World Cup Qualifier against Scotland on Saturday evening took a while to get going.
It wasn’t until the 70th minute that the deadlock was broken, via Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and a breathless finish will go down in history as three goals between the 87th minute and the full-time whistle resulted in a share of the spoils in a dramatic 2-2 clash at Hampden.
The first-half saw very little in the way of excitement, with the biggest talking point one that boiled down to a bizarre error from referee Paolo Tagliavento.
Midway through the opening 45, England midfielder Jake Livermore decided to go all the way back to his goalkeeper to set up an attack.
Has the backpass rule changed? Joe Hart just picked one up. pic.twitter.com/wPVBz8gI9N
— Peter Anderson (@pganderson) June 10, 2017
It couldn’t have been clearer that the pass left the right foot of Livermore, with a Scotland player nowhere near the ball at the time.
But as the ball rolled into the box, Joe Hart casually flicked it up into his hands which was a clear breach of the back pass rule.
Hart then just guided the ball the the feet of defender Gary Cahill and England continued playing.
Law 12 of the Laws of the Game of association football clearly states that an indirect free kick must be awarded if a goalkeeper “touches the ball with his hands after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a teammate.”
That pretty much sums up Livermore’s pass to Hart but the referee simply allowed play to continue while, bizarrely, Scotland’s players failed to put up much of an argument.
Maybe nobody at Hampden noticed.
Maybe nobody Hampden cared.
Maybe a free kick had been awarded to England in the build-up, off camera.
But, if that’s the case, then surely a back pass shouldn’t have been permitted in any advantage being played and the free kick should been taken from where the foul took place.
It left this crowd utterly baffled.
Most exciting part of the game so far is Joe Hart somehow getting away with a backpass #SCOENG #boring
— Dan Turner (@dturner1988) June 10, 2017
100 percent sure that the ref missed the most obvious backpass in history there. @ITVSport check at 22 mins, Hart picks ball up
— Robin Basqueth (@UncleRBenson) June 10, 2017
@FA how did joe hart just puck that backpass up with his hands and not cause a foul? 🤔
— Ciaran Harrington (@CiaranHRNGTN) June 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/srfconor/status/873577398113112065
Has anyone else just seen the blatant backpass Hart just picked up or have I drunk more than I think?
— J-O (@Jordan81814) June 10, 2017
Didn't Hart just pick up a backpass and get away with it? 😅 #ENGSCO
— Rob (@robert89__) June 10, 2017
Joe Hart casually picking up a backpass 👀 #ENGVSCO
— Jason Price (@PriceyNumber1) June 10, 2017
