Leeds boss Daniel Farke believes it ultimately would not have mattered had Patrick Bamford’s opening goal in the 3-0 win over Rotherham been chalked off for handball as he felt his side dominated the Championship clash.
Bamford put Leeds ahead in controversial circumstances at Elland Road with heavy suggestions of handball after a deflected cross appeared to brush his arm on its way in.
Crysencio Summerville added a second after the break and grabbed another from the penalty spot as the hosts made it six wins in a row with the Yorkshire derby triumph as Leeds remain third in the table.
Farke admitted he had not seen the opening strike back but that it would not have impacted the final result had it been disallowed as Leeds had too much for the Millers to handle.
He said: “If I’m honest I haven’t watched it back, someone mentioned it’s a possible handball or the ball was deflected by Patrick’s arm. For me it’s not possible to judge it.
“You have to say if it was a handball then probably it should have been not allowed but if I’m really honest normally you say over the course of a season everything is a bit equal.
“I also think normally it’s important during a game if it’s a goal or not a goal but today it was not important because we created so many chances.
“I think even if this situation would have been disallowed, I think it would still be the same outcome and to win. I think in the end it was not a decisive moment, we were too dominant.
“Rotherham is a side which still fights until the end in order to be successful in this relegation battle, they never gave up, also in the last 10 minutes they had a few set pieces, so that we are happy with the 3-0.”
The Millers remain bottom of the Championship and are 12 points from safety as they face the prospect of relegation to League One.
Boss Leam Richardson revealed referee Andrew Madley apologised at half-time over the opening goal but was not pleased with assistant referee Nick Hopton allegedly joking with Bamford at full-time, which he felt was ‘unprofessional’.
But he congratulated Leeds on their win and said: “I thought we started the game in the ascendancy and the goal hasn’t cost the result but it’s led to a large part of it with the handball, so you’re disappointed for the players with the work ethic they’ve put in.
“But congratulations to Leeds, they’re up there for a reason, you can see the quality of player and what happens if you give them chances.
“With the result, I think the 10 minutes in the second half [where Leeds scored twice] killed the game.
“Their first goal was disappointing with how it came about with the decision because I think it’s an easy decision. But I’m very respectful of the officiating, they’ve got a million and one things to make.
“Andy has apologised but I didn’t really appreciate the linesman who was on this side laughing and joking with Patrick after the game.
“I think that’s unprofessional but that’s not an excuse and we’ll move on from that. That’s their takeaway to get better themselves.”
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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