Craig Salmon's Soapbox: Time to award '˜penalty goals'

Colombia's Carlos Sanchez is sent off during his teams World Cup group game against Japan

The midfielder was sent off after only two minutes of his country’s clash with Japan on Tuesday afternoon for an intentional handball which denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

The incident occurred  after goalkeeper David Ospina had been caught out of position after making a save. The rebound had fallen to Shinji Kagawa whose goalbound effort was deflected away from goal by Sanchez’s extended arm. Japan were subsequently awarded a penalty, which they scored from, and the Colombians were forced to play the next 88 minutes – plus stoppage time – a man down.

Although the Colombians battled on gamely, managing to equalise at one point, the effort of playing with 10 men eventually took its toll and they went down to a 2-1 defeat.

The practice of issuing an instant dismissal for somebody who prevents a goal through deliberate handball is a rule in football that I would like to see changed.

By showing an offender a straight red, the referee is indicating that the ball would have hit the back of the net without the illegal intervention. So instead of sending the player off and pointing to the spot, why not just award a ‘penalty goal’ similar to the way rugby allows penalty tries to be awarded.

I would even implement another rugby idea into football – and send the player to the sin-bin for 10 minutes as a further punishment.

While there are occasions where a referee has no alternative but to send a player permanently off the field of play due to violent conduct or serious foul play, I think it is always favourable wherever possible to keep 11 players on the pitch for each side.

After all, football still remains an entertainment business and seeing one team with a numerical advantage – especially for the length of time which Japan had – dilutes  the game as a spectacle.

Talking of penalties, how ridiculous was the spot-kick awarded against England on Monday night in their eventual victory over Tunisia?

While Kyle Walker did raise his arm and make contact with Fakhreddine Ben Youssef, the Tunisian forward certainly made the most of it with a theatrical fall to the floor.

That type of contact is something you see at every corner.

In fact, England’s Harry Kane was on the receiving end of far worse in the opposing box when he was virtually wrestled to the ground twice – something which escaped the attention of the referee and the video assistant referee.

Nevertheless, Kane had the last laugh with his stoppage-time winner which handed England a deserved win  in what was an hugely encouraging performance.