In the 69th minute of the match on Saturday morning (Hanoi time) at Red Bull Arena, Leipzig, Memphis Depay received the ball in the penalty area, escaped defender Dayot Upamecano before turning and kicking with his left foot and goalkeeper Mike Maignan had to block it with his foot. The ball bounced off and found Xavi Simons, who volleyed it into the bottom right corner.
Simons ran to the corner to celebrate the goal with the home fans as he thought he scored the first goal for Netherlands at a major international tournament.
Netherlands players on the field and substitutes like Wout Weghorst (number 9) also ran towards Simons to share the joy with the young midfielder.
But after consulting with one of his assistants, English referee Anthony Taylor rejected Simons's goal for offside.
VAR then stepped in and Taylor spent more than three minutes reviewing the play, but he did not change his decision.
In this play, Denzel Dumfries (number 22) is considered to be in an offside position and hinders Maignan's vision.
Slow motion replay shows Dumfries was standing under the defenders of France when Simons took the shot.
Coach Koeman reacted angrily on the sidelines when referee Taylor canceled the goal.
At the post-match press conference, the coach admitted that Dumfries was offside, but asserted that he did not block the view of goalkeeper Maignan, so he believed that Simons' goal was completely valid.
"VAR needed five minutes to check because the play was too difficult? I don't understand," Koeman added.
On BBC Sport, English former footballers Wayne Rooney and Gary Lineker both said that Netherlands scored a valid goal, while Alan Shearer was not happy because VAR took a long time to review the play before making the final decision. Former midfielder Cesc Fabregas said that referee Taylor should have gone directly to the sideline to watch the replay, instead of relying on the VAR team.
Lineker added that coach Koeman has a reason to be angry and it’s strange that Taylor did not directly review the play.
"The final decision belongs to Taylor. In my opinion, that goal was valid,” Rooney said.
France coach Didier Deschamps (L) talked with Koeman while waiting for VAR to review the play. At the post-match press conference, he supported referee Taylor's decision.
"The referees had a discussion. There was a Netherlands player obstructing the France goalkeeper, so I was just surprised that the play took so long to be reviewed. When I watched it again, it was clear that there was an offside error," Deschamps said.
Simons was a bit disappointed when his goal was deemed invalid.
Up until the match against France, Simons had only played 15 matches for the Netherlands and scored one goal in a friendly.
With referee Taylor's decision, Simons still has not scored in an official match for the Netherlands.
The 21-tear-old played for Barcelona before moving PSG. He currently plays for RB Leipzig in Bundesliga on loan from PSG. The attacking midfielder was called up to the Netherlands national team in October 2022 and attended the 2022 World Cup.
The 0-0 result left France and Netherlands with four points and a goal difference of +1, but Koeman's team topped group D due to scoring more goals.
In this group, Poland became the first team to be eliminated in Euro 2024, after losing 1-3 to Austria Friday night. In the final match on June 25, France will play Poland, while the Netherlands will meet Austria.
Euro 2024: Netherlands 0-0 France
