FIFA’s new video review impacts two results
Fans in stadiums about 1,000 miles apart — and millions watching around the globe — were transfixed on a studio outside Moscow where World Cup fates turned on nearly simultaneous video replaydecisions.
Iago Aspas scored in the first minute of stoppage time Monday, pulling Spain into a 2-2 tie with Morocco in Kaliningrad, but a referee’s assistant ruled he was offside. If the goal did not count, Spain would be in second place behindPortugal.
Referee Ravshan Irmatov went to the monitor to view the image from the control room at the Broadcast Center inKrasnogorsk.
At the same moment, referee Enrique Caceres went to his monitor in Saransk to determine if Portuguese defender Cedric committed a handball when Iran’s Sardar Azmoun headed the ball. Portugal was leading, 1-0. Both games were past 90 minutes andinto stoppage time.
FIFA started allowing experimentswith video review a year ago and adopted it for thisWorld Cup.
If Portugal won, it would finish first. If Iran were able to score on the penalty kick and score again while Morocco held on to beat Spain, Iran would have shockingly won the group, Portugal would finish second and Spain’s World Cupwould be over.
Iramatov reversed the call and Spain got the 2-2 draw. Cacares allowed a record 20th penaltykick of the World Cup, and Karim Ansarifard convertedto give Iran a 1-1 draw.
The result, Spain and Portugal were tied atop Group B, but Spain got the top seed on thetiebreaker total goals.
That means host Russia, second in Group A, will play Spain Sunday, while Portugal facesUruguay Saturday.
Argentina fights to survive
Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest soccer player in history, has had a miserable World Cup and must turn it around immediately to save Argentina from an early exit. Messi leads Argentina into a must-win Tuesday game against Nigeria in St. Petersburg, where the African team wouldadvance out of Group D with a victory. Messi has turned 31, and there’s strong speculation he’ll retire from theteam if Argentina loses.
Swiss players fined
FIFA has fined three Swiss players for making hand gestures of an Albanian national symbol to celebrate goals against Serbia, but cleared them to continue playing. The two goal scorers have ethnic Albanian heritage linked to Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008. Serbia doesn’t recognize that independence.