Netherlands unhappy after 'legal goal' ruled out in France draw

Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman said the referee made a mistake in ruling out a goal for his side against France at the European Championship on Friday but added that both sides were happy with a point in their 0-0 Group D draw.

A second-half strike from Xavi Simons was chalked off because Denzel Dumfries, standing offside next to goalkeeper Mike Maignan, was penalised with the decision eventually confirmed by VAR after a lengthy delay.

But Koeman said he looked at images of the incident afterward and strongly disagreed with English referee Anthony Taylor.

"The position of Dumfries is offside, that's true. But he isn't disturbing the goalkeeper. And when that does not happen then it's a legal goal in my opinion," the Dutch coach said during a postmatch news conference.

"Did they need five minutes to check it because it's so difficult? I don't understand this. He's not disturbing the goalkeeper," Koeman added.

Simons said there was no point arguing about the goal decision.

"The VAR makes the decision, ultimately you can't do anything about it," the 21-year-old said.

"I can say something, but it won't change anything. It's the referee's choice; we have to move on."

He too seemed satisfied with the point.

"The most important thing was to give a good performance. We knew France's qualities and of course we wanted to win, but we took a point," Simons said. 

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.