VAR

drd said:
What did people think of the Ronaldo elbow incident. I thought it could have been red but suspect was so hacked off by then he just wanted out of there
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Given the penalty he gave to Iran I wouldn't have been surprised if he had also sent Ronaldo off but... it was never a red card. If I'm honest, it wasn't even a yellow card. Just a 40 times a match tussle only the Iranian player went down clutching his face. To be fair, the Portuguese players were doing the same thing in the match so maybe it's karma that their talisman is the one now treading on eggshells to avoid a suspension. I assume it's two yellows for a one match ban?
 
davygravy said:
The Portugal handball though was a bad decision and a case where the referee has been hung out to dry by the panel, who must have asked him to look when he hadn't given it.
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He still didn’t have to give it. It was an abysmal decision - Cedric jumped naturally, his arms were in a perfectly normal position and he couldn’t possibly see the flight of the ball, let alone react to it. Yet 5 (?) professional referees thought it was a penalty having had the time and technology to review it. Good grief.
 
Toronto John said:
A player’s yellow card count from the group stage carries over into the knockout rounds. There is a reset for the semifinals.
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So he has to avoid a yellow in the next two games, should they win them. I wonder if that will have any impact on his Adam Smith impressions? It could make things interesting.
 
That was...confusing tonight. I was away from tv etc and reduced to following the BBC website text updates, sort of minute by minute.

Get into stoppage time and all merry hell breaks loose. A penalty here, review there, another penalty, teams moving around the group all over the shop, the text update writer unable to keep up!

Took me several minutes to figure out how Spain had ended up top!!
 
tednphil said:
So were Beckham's and Rooney's red cards worse than Ronaldo's crime?
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There's been a few petulant incidents in this tournament that instantly brought to mind Beckham in 98. Most of them unpunished or a yellow at worst this time round of course, cos its not England!
 
Lawrenson didn’t think the Ronaldo possible red card incident was even a yellow.

When I saw it I thought he might have caught the player, but video playbacks were really not that clear.

The BBC commentary team thought that both Portugal and Spain wanted to avoid Uruguay.
 
Whether he caught him or not, and I don't think he did, he still threw it. Intent is as bad as contact, so for me a red for violent conduct and probably a yellow for the other guy launching himself at the floor. Giving hairgel a yellow was the worst of both worlds and made no sense at all to me
 
There's little I can add that I haven't said numerous times before over the years.

It's a shambles, a shambles that we all knew was coming.

Decisions that are still wrong but now we have games being stopped long after the incidents and a referee then taking minutes to make a decision.

VAR use only suppose to be for clear and obvious errors, or in other words blunders, none of which happened last night.

Even the black and white, draw a line on the screen offside decision wasn't exactly a "blunder" to disallow.
 
davygravy said:
A mixed night for VAR! The Spanish equaliser in the last minute WAS onside, so it got that one correct. Ronaldo was clipped for the penalty he was awarded, so that was probably right as well. The Portugal handball though was a bad decision and a case where the referee has been hung out to dry by the panel, who must have asked him to look when he hadn't given it.
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In my opinion that Spain last minute goal is the perfect example of how dreadful VAR is and also why people will probably never agree on it. The goal was marginally onside and the right decision was made. The game was ruined by it though - an absolute shambles.

Those that think we need correct decisions at any cost will celebrate its success but I think they completely miss the point.
 
Going back to the Ronaldo incident last night.

After consulting VAR the referee gave Ronaldo a yellow, so basically that means ‘guilty’ of the offence. So it should have been a straight red.

The only reason I can think of why he was only given a yellow, was the referee was undecided (like myself) that Ronaldo caught him or meant to.
 
billythekid said:
Going back to the Ronaldo incident last night.

After consulting VAR the referee gave Ronaldo a yellow, so basically that means ‘guilty’ of the offence. So it should have been a straight red.

The only reason I can think of why he was only given a yellow, was the referee was undecided (like myself) that Ronaldo caught him or meant to.
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Yes with that sort of situation, all any video system can do is show what occurred. It's still human interpretation to decide intent and severity. Personally thought a yellow was spot on, as much as I might have kinda liked a straight red.
 
You could argue that Ronaldo was obstructed and the guy turned his head just as Ronaldo tries to shrug him off.

In super slow mo there's a case Ronaldo deserves the free kick...but isn't that missing the point entirely?

Did the game benefit from that being looked at by VAR?
 
...VAR is in our lives now...let's just accept that we will get some bonkers calls made with it and actual playing time will be reduced to something resembling a pass the parcel game!

It would be better used to 'out' the cheating and stupid wrestling that we have to witness these days at corners and free kicks. Also the diving and sneaky elbowing etc....etc...
 
It seems as if the Harry Kane incidents at corners has been possibly taken on board. At corners/free-kicks we have seen penalties given.

Also the referees I have seen have been having words with players before corners and more or less saying we know what is going on.

Maybe since the Colombian official ignored the use of VAR and Fifa said they were going to look into the Kane incidents, some good might have come out of the persistent holding we have seen.

Has the Colombian referee officiated at a game since?
 
billythekid said:
It seems as if the Harry Kane incidents at corners has been possibly taken on board. At corners/free-kicks we have seen penalties given.

Also the referees I have seen have been having words with players before corners and more or less saying we know what is going on.

Maybe since the Colombian official ignored the use of VAR and Fifa said they were going to look into the Kane incidents, some good might have come out of the persistent holding we have seen.

Has the Colombian referee officiated at a game since?
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The same Colombian referee did the Saudi v Egypt game last night, his 2nd game of the tournament, in which a couple of pens were awarded one using VAR (none related to corners mind). It's possible he had received some 'reeducation' from FIFA after the controversy in England v Tunisia.

Combined with the way Panama were clearly punished at corners, seems the fuss we kicked up may have resulted in some words being had.
 
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We got the penalty against Panama...eventually. After about three clear instances of WWE defending. Thought the ref was incredibly kind to Panama, and almost begrudgingly penalised them. But we got there in the end so ehhh.
 
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