FIFA U-20 World Cup: VAR in Action

[Neil D]

Not many will have spent time watching Italy v Uruguay in this competition but it was notable for the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee.  The Uruguayans claimed that their forward was fouled in the six-yard box just as he was about to slot home a cross but the referee dismissed their appeal.  The Italians went on the attack and ended up in the Uruguay penalty area when play was halted a minute or so after the penalty appeal.  The referee then took the play back and awarded Uruguay their penalty on the evidence of the VAR.  The penalty was missed but this bizarre incident highlights one of the problems with the VAR system.  What if the Italians had scored in that attack only to have the goal annulled because of the retrospective penalty?  The triple whammy could have been not just the award of the penalty, a cancelled 'goal' but also a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity (though this was not a likely decision in this instance).  Would it have been better to suspend play while the VAR reached a decision (as in rugby).  Do we need it at all?

[valdeingruo]

I think some sort of video referee would be good, obviously the situation as described would have to find a solution. I think any goal scored should count, regardless of retroactive fouls, it would be fair for both teams in the current format.

I however am for a sort of challenge system. You maybe get 1 per half and can only use it after play stops and can only challenge immediately after. The best example of my suggestion would be the game against Reading. Kalas, knowing what happened, instead of protesting to the ref would motion to Slav to challenge, Slav would let the 4th assistant know he would like to challenge and play would be stopped allowing the var to complete their duties.

[nose]

not going into specific incidents but I was getting text updates at reading regarding poor or good decisions. i see no reason a person cannot be reviewing the action in seconds. clearly there will be the odd occasion when the real time action moves quickly but that is likely to be less often.

I hadn't wanted video evidence in real time and if retrospectively 'cheating' was shown to have taken place .. I would ban players for a good deal longer than they usually get now.