Germany and Chile reach Cup semifinals
GERMANY eased into the Confederations Cup semifinals with a 3-1 win over Cameroon yesterday as the VAR system was again thrust into the spotlight, when the on-field official needed two reviews of an incident to reach the right verdict.
Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan consulted the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) after a reckless high challenge by Ernest Mabouka on Germany’s Emre Can saw Sebastien Siani wrongly receive a yellow card in a case of mistaken identity.
But even then, Roldan did not come up with the right outcome as he simply switched the colour of midfielder Siani’s card from yellow to red.
It was only after Cameroon’s players insisted he review the incident again that he realised his error, rescinded Siani’s sending off and instead flashed the red card to the correct culprit Mabouka.
Germany deservedly topped Group B to set up a last four meeting with Mexico at the same venue on Thursday after the first international goals for Kerem Demirbay and Timo Werner, who got two. Vincent Aboubakar scored Cameroon’s consolation goal.
The drama came on a landmark day for Joachim Loew, who was able to celebrate his 100th win as Germany’s head coach in his 150th game in charge. Meanwhile, Chile reached the semifinals yesterday with a 1-1 draw against Australia, who muscled the South Americans out of their stride but exited the tournament after wasting their chances.
Chile capitalised on a defensive mistake to equalise through substitute Martin Rodriguez in the 67th minute of the Group B game, after Australia had taken the lead with a James Troisi goal in the 42nd.
Australia, needing a two-goal win to qualify, squandered an opportunity to go two ahead before half time, when Trent Sainsbury volleyed wildly over with the goal at his mercy.
The Australians missed further chances in the second half.
Chile, who face European champions Portugal in the last four on Wednesday in Kazan, came second in the group with five points, two behind Germany and three ahead of Australia in third. – Reuters