Delete
VAR has already played a key role in a number of games.
VAR comes of age
A LOOK AT LA LIGA

VAR comes of age

The anti-technology brigade have been forced to bite their tongue

Rob Palmer

Friday, 29 June 2018, 12:14

Compartir

Years ago, when we introduced the small clock at the top of the screen for televised football matches the reaction was vitriolic. I imagine it was the same when somebody suggested that they give the referee a whistle to make himself heard.

Does this sound familiar? "You're spoiling our beautiful game," cried the anti-VAR brigade at the start of the World Cup.

As we head to the knockout stages of the tournament the Video Assistant Referee system has come of age. Maybe we should arrange a huge cake to mark the occasion, or maybe a pie that can be shared humbly by Alan Shearer and his cohorts who judged the judging system just a little too early.

Shearer had a valid point when the referee in the Portugal v Iran game handled it as dextrously as most of us handle Ikea assembly instructions. In truth Enrique Cáceres just made a human error.

The same evening, in the same group, the assistant on the touchline signalled his suspicion that Iago Aspas was offside but the officials with a bank of televisions used technology to discern that the goal should stand and, as a result, Spain finished top of the group and Portugal runners-up. Justice was done.

There was quite an inquest when Germany were eliminated from the competition following a late collapse against South Korea. There was debate about the coach, the system, the players' attitude and even the sighting of their training base, but it all came down to the technology team bringing a "clear and obvious" error to the attention of the pitch practitioners. If the goal hadn't been correctly given, then history suggests that Germany had it in their genes to find a winner in the remaining six minutes.

So the history books have a new exciting chapter, one where the reigning champions depart thanks to a correct 21st-century decision.

One argument is that the flow of the game is disturbed by the referee running to the touchline to review the evidence. FIFA say that the average delay is 53 seconds. I say waiting one minute to get a vital decision right is a billion times better than making a ruling on what the officials 'think' they saw.

Imagine if they'd had this technology when Diego Maradona claimed the Hand of God? Science would have proved there was no such divine intervention, just a very naughty boy.

Harald Schumacher would have walked the plank in the 1982 World Cup semi-final and France would probably have made the final. Ireland may have made the 2010 finals instead of France if CCTV had caught Thierry Henry handling the ball. The list is endless.

The VAR protesters started the tournament as quite a vociferous army but slowly the numbers have thinned with many downing the placards when technology assisted in eliminating Germany. With great irony, a country that prides itself on technical advancements becomes the first main victim of VAR.

Reporta un error en esta noticia

* Campos obligatorios