Instead of worrying incessantly about whether or not the arm is in a "natural" position, I would like to see the IFAB focus much more on reaction time as a indicator of intentionality. Now that there are chips in the ball, the amount of time between when the ball is struck by the attacker and when it hits the defenders arm/hand can be precisely measured. Anything less than 1.00 seconds, and a handball should be considered unintentional.
I don't understand why the powers that be moved away from the explicit consideration of distance. Although I dont think we need to rely on chips in balls to determine reaction time, I think its sufficient to rely visually on distance. While never technically a law, but an interpretation, the concept of "ball to hand, hand to ball" was straightforward and less subjective than natural position which requires a bio-mechanics degree. Prior to a decade ago, the concept was that you couldn't play the ball with your hand aka "handling". Now its more along the lines if it hits your hand its perceived that you've gained an advantage and should be penalized. Its fundamentally changed the game and not in a good way.
At the risk of being carded/ejected/banned from the forum...I'd like to say "Germany, the universe has levelled its accounts for WC 2002. Only took 22 years."
UEFA admit to colossal mistake which cost Germany a EURO 2024 triumph - Yahoo Sports UEFA Referees’ Committee has conceded that a penalty should have been given. In a statement on Monday, they said: “Following the latest UEFA guidelines, hand-to-ball contact that stops a shot on goal should be punished more strictly, and in most cases a penalty kick should be awarded, unless the defender’s arm is very close to the body or in contact with the body. “In this case [Cucurella], the defender stops the shot on goal with his arm, which is not very close to the body, making himself bigger, so a penalty kick should have been awarded.”