Referee Martin van den Kerkhof and VAR Joey Kooij provided surprised faces on Sunday afternoon during the match between PEC Zwolle and Feyenoord. The refereed duo found a yellow card sufficient for PEC defender Maikel van der Werff, who prevented the breakthrough Bryan Linssen from passing. PEC’s response is all-encompassing: “The VAR, Joey Kooij, was probably hitting the nuts for a while, or he had other images,” according to the club’s official Twitter account.
Just after Feyenoord had reached 1-1 via Luis Sinisterra, the Rotterdam team were on their way to another goal in the 71st minute. Van der Werff seemed to let Linssen through in the depths, but prevented this by playing the ball with his arm. To the great anger of everyone at Feyenoord, Van den Kerkhof only decided to go yellow. Kooij could have saved the situation as VAR, but to everyone’s surprise – even that of PEC – did not intervene. “It seemed as if Van der Werff was the last man at PEC Zwolle,” the club writes. “Anyway, luckily it stays with yellow.”
72 ‘The VAR, Joey Kooij, was probably just getting some nuts, or he had other images. It seemed as if Van der Werff was the last man at PEC Zwolle. Anyway, luckily it stays with yellow. (1-1) #pecfey
— PEC Zwolle (@PECZwolle) March 13, 2022
Kees Kwakman also thought it was clearly red. “Yes, you can see that Linssen has passed, maybe Kostas Lamprou can still join as a keeper, but that doesn’t matter,” said the former midfielder at ESPN† “Van der Werff does nothing but put out his arm and play the ball… I think this is nothing more than consciously depriving a goal-scoring opportunity. You cannot take the situation into account afterward”, Kwakman refers again to Lamprou, who came out to possibly stop Linssen.