Video review: ‘Close to perfection’ cold comfort for losers

MOSCOW — FIFA says video reviews are “close to perfection” at the first World Cup to use the system, claiming 99.3 per cent of “match-changing” plays were called correctly.

Don’t tell that to some of the coaches still angry about a few penalties, fouls or cards that were or weren’t handed out.

The system has had a major impact, with seven penalties awarded using the Video Assis- tant Referee system. Two goals were given after being initially ruled offside, including one by South Korea that helped to eliminate world champion Germany.

FIFA’s referee committee head Pierluigi Collina claimed Friday that 99.3 per cent of “matchchanging” decisions were called correctly at the World Cup — “very, very close to perfection” — based on assessments by him and other senior ex-referees. Without VAR, the figure would be 95 per cent, Collina said.

That missing 0.7 per cent in Collina’s statistic is still bitterly contentious.

Serbia’s coach suggested a referee should be sent to a war-crimes tribunal when his team didn’t get a penalty after two Swiss defenders appeared to hold Aleksandar Mitrovic in the penalty area. English media complained about Tunisian defenders grappling with striker Harry Kane.

Collina didn’t address those plays directly, but suggested they prompted a warning to referees to be stricter about holding in the penalty area.

“I think you might have appreciated that at a certain point of the group phase there were some incidents which suddenly disappeared,” he said.

“We had some holdings and they almost disappeared, but if they continued they were punished with the corresponding decision.

“That’s an example of the refereeing system being “finetuned,” Collina added.

On the whole, FIFA views VAR’s rollout as a success.

Before the World Cup, there were concerns about referees who hadn’t used the system before, about slower games and pedantic rulings on minor fouls. However, FIFA says the ball has been in play for longer than at the last World Cup and total fouls are down through 48 games.