Kane slams refereeing, VAR use after Tunisia win
The implementation of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has come in for criticism from England and Brazil.
England captain Harry Kane hoped officiating will improve after rescuing his side with two goals in a last-gasp 2-1 victory over a physical Tunisia.
After scoring in 11th minute, Kane got England out of jail with an injury-time winner in their Group G opener late on Monday. England had almost paid a heavy price for missing a slew of firsthalf chances when Tunisia’s Ferjani Sassi slotted home a penalty 20 minutes before half-time.
Harry Maguire won a header from a corner and Kane was on hand at the far post to nod in the winner.
Kane admitted he was frustrated by several decisions from referee Wilmar Roldan. One first half collision which saw Sassi wrestle Kane to the ground in the penalty area was widely replayed across social media after the game.
“I was maybe a bit disappointed by that,” Kane said. “I guess that’s what VAR is there for, to look at them decisions. If they don’t think that was a penalty, we have to deal with that.
“For me, I struggled to get them off me. I guess as players there’s nothing we can do about that. We just have to hope the officials get it right more often than not.”
BRAZIL COMPLAIN TOO
The Brazilian football confederation (CBF) has asked Fifa why the VAR was not used to review two key decisions during 1-1 draw against Switzerland.
“The CBF wants to know from Fifa the reason the technology was not used in key incidents during the game,” CBF said.
VAR is being used in the World Cup for the first time and, according to Fifa, should only “correct clear and obvious errors and missed incidents in clearly defined match-changing decisions”