Just to play devil's advocate as I'm not sure what the rules actually say: I think it may have been the correct decision. Tiniest touch on the ball that doesn't affect where the ball is going at all, the forward is still running then the defender trips him up? Does any touch on the ball no matter how minimal mean you can't commit a foul? I know we always look for someone getting to the ball first but in this case the touch was so small I'm not sure you can say that excuses him legging up the forward.
Decisions aside, VAR seems to move more fluidly than it does in other sports such as rugby league. Ive not watched many footy matches with it to be honest but it's hardly affected the flow of play. If it prevents another hand of god situation then im all for it.
I agree with you. I think it was a penalty. He didn't get the ball away, so by bringing the man down he stopped a clear goalscoring opportunity with a tackle from behind.
If the ball had significantly changed course I'd have been against a penalty. Completely agree with you. They got it right as it was only the faintest of touches on the ball in the first place.
In fairness, I think it was the correct decision for the France penalty. He played the ball, but brought him down with the follow through.
The main problems seem to be the inconsistency of actually deciding to use it and then taking the necessary time to make the right decision.
Just been used to perfection. Ref allowed the game to continue until the ball was in a neutral area. Ran to the side of the pitch and watched a slo mo replay before giving the penalty
What concerns me is that it to took approx 20 secs before the game was halted which is plenty of time for the other side to break away and score. In such a scenario would this goal be disallowed? Guess it would have to be
Who decides it has to be used? It seems to be when the referee has missed something, so who tells him he's missed something? And if that's the case, why wasn't it used in the Argentina game when the referee missed that an Argentinian had been brought down for a penalty?
Football still has a lot to learn from rugby and cricket. Pitch refs should be 'miked up' and the deliberations of the video ref also heard. The spectators are currently left in the dark about what's going on.
I do think we'll see a record number of penalties this world cup as a result. There have been 3 so far that I wouldn't have given on live viewing but were shown to be penalties on multi-angle replays. Whether this is an improvement or not I'm not yet sure. Is controversy not part of the game's appeal?
Players are starting to surround the refs on this - this isn’t acceptable & should result ultimately in a booking. VAR is here to stay & it’s so far been less intrusive than we were led to believe - it’s helping the ref make good decisions so I’m all for it, just that the ref (or assistant) should decide, not the players. On thing in the France match - in the 2nd half, an Aussie player was running through the middle when a French player took one for the team by doing him - no attempt for the ball, just the man - sending off for me, not a pappy booking - it needs to stop - saw it at Oakwell a few times when we broke forward - cynical & should be treated harshly
Touch wood and all, but the VAR has been used well so far. Those penalty decisions that were given were both correct, although the French one was/is maybe debatable. Im dreading the first real awful VAR decision though, and which team are going to be on the wrong end of it. I think the refs/officials have been ok so far in this tournament, lets hope they can keep up this level of consistency.
