SO VAR, SO GOOD AS REFS PASS TEST

Well done, Pierluigi Collina and his FiFa referees’ committee for getting this World Cup off to an excellent start.

Saturday became the day when VaR affected the tournament — and in all but one incident, it passed with flying colours.

Two penalties were correctly awarded which would not have been had VaR not been in place, while others that were given by the on-field referee were confirmed by VaR, clearing up potential controversy and boosting the confidence of the on-pitch ref.

Roy Keane commented that the one error, in the argentina match, perhaps showed that FiFa had rushed VaR in and should have waited a year or two to perfect the system. it isn’t unusual for Keano to be negative towards officiating, or for me to disagree with him.

The incident which he referred to was when argentina’s Cristian Pavon was tripped by iceland’s Birkir Saevarsson. it was a very tough decision, so Polish referee Szymon Marciniak couldn’t be blamed. However, VaR didn’t ask for a delay to the re-start to check and then offer Marciniak a chance to review. it was the only blot on the system so far.

i didn’t think VaR should have been required when danish playmaker Yussuf Poulsen slid in and took out the standing leg of Peruvian Christian Cueva. it was clearly a penalty and an easy decision for Gambian referee Bakary Gassama. it wasn’t given until VaR advised Gassama of his error and thankfully it was corrected.

england will have an excellent referee for their match tonight in the shape of Colombian Wilmar Roldan. He made a high-profile error in last year’s Confederations Cup, when he mistakenly cautioned Cameroon’s Sebastian Siani after team-mate ernest Mabouka had fouled Germany’s emre Can.

VaR reviewed the decision and, amid much confusion, Roldan returned to the field and showed Siani the red card before other Cameroon players indicated the foul was made by Mabouka. eventually the Colombian rescinded the card issued incorrectly and dismissed Mabouka.

i still rate Roldan and expect a good performance in keeping with the officiating so far.