FRANCE 2 AUSTRALIA 1 VAR-CICAL Technology & Pogba to the rescue for French
DENMARK boss Age Hareide admitted his team got lucky as Yussuf Poulsen’s strike saw off Peru.
The Peruvians missed a first-half penalty and then squandered a host of chances as the Danes pulled off a smash-andgrab raid.
Christian Cueva blew the South Americans’ big opportunity just before the interval as he blazed over a spot-kick awarded via the video assistant referee system.
Poulsen (above), who had given the penalty away with a foul on Cueva, then broke the deadlock in the 59th minute with a cool finish having been teed up by Christian Eriksen.
Peru’s all-time top scorer Paolo Guerrero, cleared to play at the
Peru 0 Denmark 1
Pogba was happy two big refereeing calls were decided by VAR, as they both went in his favour PAUL POGBA was France’s saviour as VAR stamped its controversial mark on the World Cup.
Manchester United’s £89million midfielder was the architect of his country’s hotly-disputed opening goal before being credited with a fortuitous late winner.
But while the French got lucky, the Socceroos were left complaining that the most sophisticated hitech kit will not eliminate human error.
No one could blame Aussies boss Bert van Marwijk for whinging after his team found themselves on the wrong side of the World Cup’s first brush with video refereeing.
Uruguayan official Andres Cunha was adamant defender Josh Risdon had timed his tackle perfectly to prevent Antoine Griezmann from racing clear on to Pogba’s 54th-minute pass.
But 30 seconds later, word came through from the Argentine VAR Mauro Vigliano, 500 miles away in Moscow, that he should take a second look.
Replays suggested Risdon had got a touch on the ball before making contact with Griezmann.
But the ruling was in Griezmann’s favour – and the striker duly beat Mat Ryan from the spot.
Van Marwijk said: “I hoped this one time there would be a referee who is very honest.
“I saw him standing there. The body language was that he didn’t know. Then you have to take a decision – France or Australia?
“I didn’t see it back on TV and, from my po- sition, I thought it was no penalty.”
But Australia were level just four minutes after Griezmann’s opener when defender Samuel Umtiti needlessly palmed away Aaron Mooy’s free-kick and this time Senor Cunha needed less time to point to the spot. Aston Villa’s Mile Jedinak kept his cool to send Hugo Lloris the wrong way.
Then, with 10 minutes left, Pogba swapped passes, first with Kylian Mbappe, then with sub Olivier Giroud, to power into the box.
When Aziz Behich lunged at the Frenchman in an effort to block, the Aussie defender appeared to get the last touch on the ball as it looped over Ryan and bounced down off the crossbar to land a foot over the goalline.
Once again it required technology to confirm the decision – and this time there were no doubts. France boss Didier Deschamps said: “I am not going to complain about VAR because it went in our favour.”