Why did Ghana not receive a penalty against England?

Referee reveals how England were saved from giving away 'clear penalty' after Ezri Konsa challenge Social media exploded on Tuesday after England defender was not penalised for what appeared to be a stonewall penalty. The Three Lions played out an uninspiring scoreless draw with Ghana in Boston. The Black Stars defended deep and kept a clean sheet, with England unable to break through. On another day, Ghana could even have won the game had Aston Villa defender Konsa been punished for a lunge that resulted in Prince Kwabena Adu hitting the deck in the box. The Viktoria Plzen forward was barrelling down on goal when Konsa jumped in from behind and brought him down without making contact on the ball. The response on social media and even among English pundits was unanimous: it should have been a penalty. Former Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann described Konsa's challenge as "out of control," while broadcaster analysts Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards concurred that a penalty "could easily have been given." 'VAR went for a coffee' Confusion reigned as to why the Video Assistant Referee did not intervene and recommend that the centre official at least take another look at the challenge. Some posited that it was due to a potential offside, but that theory was soon debunked. Ghana manager Carlos Queiroz quipped that the VAR had gone "for a coffee." He added: "I'm not sure VAR is still working in the World Cup. We still have VAR? It's working? En un mundo con tanta injusticia, necesitamos que el fútbol — el deporte del pueblo — nos de confianza en que la humanidad puede cambiar. No que vuelva a recordarnos el acoso de los poderosos sobre el resto del mundo. ¡Vergonzoso no cobrar este penal contando también con el VAR! pic.twitter.com/p0lg00T5rg — Federico Manfredo (@FedeManfredo) June 24, 2026 "I have some doubts about that because another penalty that they need give to Ghana, a clear penalty against England [was missed]. They're lucky. They're very lucky. "It was a clear penalty, red card. You have any doubts about that? You guys who saw the game have any doubts about that or is it only me that was in the game? I'm sorry for my sarcasm, but if I say these kind of things seriously they punish me, so I hope you understand that I'm joking." Why Konsa wasn't punished The reality is that the VAR simply saw no reason to step in. According to former referee Christina Unkel, FIFA has clearly instructed VARs - potentially due to the three red cards shown in the opening game between Mexico and South Africa - to have a higher tolerance for what is deemed a "clear and obvious error" by the main referee. "I am not surprised this was not given as a penalty in this game," Unkel explained on CBS. "If we would be talking about our regular competitions and what we cover in Serie A and particularly what we see in the Premier League, et cetera, this is being given in our domestic game. "Now, what we've seen over this World Cup, and that's really where we kind of have to balance it, is what are the officials being given in the direction and the guidance as to what should and should not be given? You know, now we can put this into a pattern of clips. I would rather have seen a penalty here."@ChristinaUnkel believes Ghana should have been awarded a penalty but understands why VAR didn't take a look 👀 pic.twitter.com/kUyXBcHM3N — CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) June 23, 2026 "So when we talk about Scotland, right, they had two penalty decisions not given and it had a material impact... There's a bunch of consistent contacts that are happening that are not being given. And you can then see that the threshold for VAR is: do not give them unless it's so significant and so clear that everyone would think that you're crazy for a certain reason. "And I'm gonna bring in back again the France-Senegal penalty that was recommended down and then the referee didn't take it even though VAR recommended it down. "There's this sense that if there's any kind of slight doubt - they're keeping their clear and obvious standard very, very high - any kind of slight doubt that a referee could potentially have when they're on the field, it feels like the direction is, and based on the patterns and the clips, it's got to be like 110% before you send it down here [to VAR]. "So because this might still be a debatable clip in a debatable position, I'm not surprised VAR didn't recommend it down. I don't think the referee had the best angle f