AUSSIE ANGER AT VAR CALL

Van Marwijk hits out, but ref’s U-turn is spot-on

THERE is no outcome quite so certain as a manager complaining bitterly when off-field technology has just affected a game’s outcome. But Australia’s Bert van Marwijk’s bitter recriminations on a decision he claimed was ‘dishonest’ cut very little ice last night after the first VAR-penalty in World Cup history helped France to a winning start.

Eight years on from the Frank Lampard ghost goal which was the catalyst for goal-line technology, the fully-kitted video referees delivered precisely the quality of decision that they and their cameras were intended for.

In plain view, Australian defender Joshua Risdon escaped with his high-risk slide in on Antoine Griezmann as the striker advanced towards goal. But the cameras provided the full picture, of Risdon’s foot finding only the faintest connection on the ball and then bringing the forward clattering to the ground as he followed through on the challenge.

Van Marwijk mounted a detailed evisceration of referee Andres Cunha’s decision to do so, in which he accused him of a lack of honesty and implied the Uruguayan felt pressurised to give the decision to the higher-ranked nation.

‘I hoped that maybe one time there will be a referee who is very honest,’ said the Dutchman. ‘I saw him. The body language was that he didn’t know. Then you have to take a decision — France or Australia? It’s difficult when the referee has 50,000 people and has to decide.’

This, frankly, was rubbish. Cunha’s initial decision was wrong, the video referees called it up and a forensic level of detail was quickly applied. Though there were three minutes from tackle to penalty, the video analysts’ decision-making was sharp and incisive.

‘What’s also important is that it’s not a red card because the defender has attempted to play the ball,’ Mark Clattenburg observed on ITV. ‘And this is where the law’s great because we don’t want a player sent off.’

Van Marwijk’s grievances doubtless stemmed from the fact that his side, marshalled superbly by Huddersfield Town’s Aaron Mooy, had acquitted themselves so well against Didier Deschamps’ French and looked to be heading towards a point until a deflected shot from Paul Pogba (right) secured them late victory.

France certainly made short work of reducing to dust the pre-match inquisition about the inexperience of their squad. They bathed in a brilliant sunshine and looking incredibly connected. Three shots on goal in the opening five minutes telegraphed a serious level of intent. Kylian Mbappe destroys defenders in such an elementary way, with those bursts of pace he has, and having accelerated beyond the defence to force a save from keeper Mathew Ryan within two minutes, he was backheeling the ball 15 yards wide to Ousmane Dembele. It was freestyling stuff in those early moments, with the front three of Mbappe, Griezmann and Dembele looking terrifying. Mbappe reveals the sublime self-belief of youth, spinning the ball off in random directions. But when the Aussies found their level and caught their breath, France laboured for answers. Beyond the rapier front-line pace, they could not throttle the world’s 36th-ranked nation. They allowed them space on the ball, with Celtic’s Tom Rogic — playing in his customary advanced midfield role — unable to take advantage before being replaced by a former Celt, Jackson Irvine of Hull City.

France’s two defensive midfielders

— one more than was needed — just did not race forward in the way that world champions do. There was 15 yards of space between the attack and midfield lines at times.

Confidence coursed through Australia as they were granted space. They moved beyond their default survival mode. They were inches from finding the net when Mooy’s lofted free-kick from the left deflected off the top of Mathew Leckie’s head and a disorientated Corentin Tolisso diverted it goalwards, forcing Hugo Lloris into tipping around his left post.

When the French breakthrough came, just after the break, you wondered where Australia had left to go. N’Golo Kante must take most of the praise, dispossessing Mooy, spinning off him and pressing the ball forward to Pogba, whose pass sent Griezmann racing in on Ryan. Risdon then made his fateful, high-stakes challenge

Griezmann stepped up to convert the ensuing spot-kick, yet the Australians were level within four minutes when Samuel Umtiti committed a blatant handball as a Mooy free-kick sailed over the French box.

Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak kept his cool to convert from the spot and level the score.

Pogba applied the final blow, as his give-and-gos with substitute Olivier Giroud and Mbappe helped him ghost into the penalty area, his shot deflecting off Aussie full-back Aziz Behich, clipping the underside of the bar and, as the goal-line camera confirmed, bouncing over the line. The technically-superior team and the technology were both winners.

However, it takes something more prosaic to lift the greatest trophy of all: the intelligence, in an era when almost every international defence can do its job, to know where the fault-lines lie and how to pick a route through them to goal.

For all of their creative talent, France certainly have work to do.