Warning: Video Assistant Referee ‘can fail’
BRUSSELS — Frozen screens, bendy offside lines and other technical glitches have made the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system a frequent target of derision as the World Cup approaches.
Two years of testing ahead of the June 14 opening game have left Johannes Holzmueller, the head of FIFA’s Technology Innovation Department, “sweating ... because we were unsure if everything works perfectly.
“However, now that we go into the World Cup we are quite sure that we will have the best setup that is possible at the moment,” Holzmueller said at a media conference.
But he refused to say the network of digitally-enhanced cameras overseen by experienced assistant referees would be foolproof in time for the World Cup that kicks off in Moscow.
Ultimately, said Holzmueller, “it is technology. It can fail.”
Few doubt that following several controversial incidents recently. Last weekend a technical glitch allowed an offside goal to stand, deciding the national title in Australia.
“Cameras were frozen. The feeds were no longer available. They tried the best in that situation but could not find one angle,” Holzmueller said.
“If they do not have all the feeds or the specific angle to say, ‘Hey, I am 100 per cent sure, 100 per cent convinced I would go for a clear offside,’ if you cannot have that as a VAR, then, of course, you cannot tell the referee on the pitch.
“In this case it was a clear technology failure. We learned a lot from that.”
Holzmueller said that, in another incident, the digital line on the screen to decide offside was bendy rather than straight.
Live and learn and always have a backup, said Massimo Busacca, director of refereeing at soccer’s ruling body FIFA.
“Only one decision at the next World Cup — only one — is enough to say: VAR was good to be introduced.
“The aim is not to achieve 100 per cent calls for all decisions, only to avoid scandal.”