World Cup is heading for record number of penalties

samara — There have already been more penalties awarded in the first 28 games of Russia 2018 than in the entire World Cup four years ago in Brazil.

Carlos Vela’s penalty in Mexico’s match with South Korea on Saturday was the 14th of the tournament in the first 28 games, meaning there has now been a penalty once every two games. 11 of the penalties have been successfully converted.

Belgium’s Eden Hazard also scored from the spot after the video assistant referee (VAR) advised that he had been fouled in the penalty area during Belgium’s 5-2 win over Tunisia earlier on Saturday.

In Brazil four years ago, there were only 13 penalties in the entire tournament. The World Cup record, set in 2002, stands at 18.

The role of VAR goes a long way to explaining this trend, with six penalties so far being awarded following a video review and VAR has also confirmed referees’ decisions on the field on several occasions.

A penalty was also disallowed in Brazil’s win over Costa Rica on Friday after VAR deemed there not to have been a foul on Neymar. Fifa’s director of refereeing, Massimo Busacca, said before the tournament that VAR would not be perfect at the tournament and so it has proved, with inconsistency in decision making frustrating teams and fans alike. Both Brazil and England felt that VAR should have been used to review penalty decisions in their opening fixtures, while Australia coach Bert van Marwijk was left furious with the role the system played in his team’s loss to France.

“I hoped that maybe one time there will be a referee (who is) very honest,” the Dutchman, never a fan of the technology in principle, told reporters after that match.

“The body language was that he didn’t know from my position. And then you have to take a decision.” —