Should England Have Been Awarded A Penalty Against USA?

With news that VAR is due to be instilled into the Premier League next season, attention was further turned to the need for referee assistance during England versus the USA at Wembley Stadium on Thursday evening.

An international friendly with the questionable banner of  ‘The Wayne Rooney Foundation International Match’ an early talking point in the game happened even before ten minutes of action had passed.

England winger Jesse Lingard played Callum Wilson through on goal and the reckless USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan came out off his line to meet the oncoming Bournemouth forward, leading to a clash within the box.

Wilson went down under the challenge and - with the score still standing at 0-0 - calls for a penalty erupted around the stadium.

However, the referee, Jesus Gil Manzano, waved the England accusations away and Wilson was left to pick himself up from the floor to be confronted by the furious Guzan who was obviously put out with the Englishman’s behaviour at the beginning of his debut performance for the Three Lions.

Replays showed that the American goalkeeper didn’t make contact with the ball but didn’t perhaps deny the striker a clear goal-scoring chance. It seems the officials were right on this call.

In the oft-spoken words however; ‘You’ve seen those given.’

To break the deadlock, England had to wait a further 15 minutes until Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard provided the opener with an absolute worldie.

The game also represented the return of Lingard’s former teammate and national all-time top goalscorer Wayne Rooney to the England side over a year after his retirement, to be awarded his 120th, and final, cap for the national team.