The Hindu : Sport : A lucky break for Russia

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Monday, Jun 23, 2008
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A lucky break for Russia

BASEL (Switzerland): Russia caught a break in its 3-1 victory over the Netherlands in the quarterfinals of the European Championship on Saturday after a red card given to defender Denis Kolodin was waived off just before regulation time ended.

Kolodin committed a hard foul on Wesley Sneijder in the 90th minute and received his second yellow card. Slovakian referee Lubos Michel consequently gave him the red card, but had to waive off the ejection moments later because his linesman had his flag up signalling the ball went over the touchline before the foul occurred.

Because the linesman had made the call before Kolodin’s foul, everything that happened after it was called back.

Had the red card counted, it could’ve made a difference because the Dutch would have been a man up for the rest of the match.

After the card was shown, Russia coach Guus Hiddink yelled frantically to the linesman so he would get the referee’s attention to the offside call. The coach later put his hands over the shoulders of the linesman to apparently thank him. — AP

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