Upon further review, replays hurt beautiful game
System becoming a hindrance and interrupting play
PARIS VAR is not working.
At least not the way it is being utilized at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The tournament has become a guinea pig for the tinkering of the video review system, which is spiralling out of control and becoming more of a hindrance to the flow of the game than an enhancement.
The zero tolerance against goalkeepers stepping off their line in the slightest on a penalty kick is a joke.
If there is going to be strict enforcement of the penalty kick rule on goaltenders, then there has to be a similar review when players encroach into the area on the kick.
Or move too far up the line on a throw-in.
While we are at it, every challenge should be reviewed. Every decision regarding who touched the ball last going out of play should be looked at.
If you get to a penalty shootout, are you going to send goalkeepers off if they move off the line twice and referees have to book them?
That is actually an issue dealt with Friday by the International Football Association Board — they make the laws of the game — proving there is fault with the new crackdown. They have announced a temporary dispensation that goalkeepers will not get booked during a penalty shootout at the Women’s World Cup.
The point is, it has to stop somewhere.
The need to make sure every call is right every time is killing the game.
Host France have benefited from two extremely suspect VAR decisions.
The first came in the 2-1 win against Norway when they were awarded a dubious penalty with 20 minutes to go in a tie game.
Norway defender Ingrid Syrstad Engen cleared the ball away from the penalty area and her follow-through caught France fullback Marion Torrent in the leg. Torrent went down, but the referee allowed play to continue as Engen clearly made contact with the ball.
Not a single French player on the field appealed for a penalty and as Norway was getting ready to take the goal kick, the VAR officials, which included Canadian Chantal Boudreau, suggested to German referee Bibiana Steinhaus she take a closer look at the play.
Steinhaus went to the video monitor, and even though Engen clearly made contact with the ball before following through and hitting Torrent, a penalty was awarded. France captain Eugenie Le Sommer put away the penalty kick and France went on to win, leaving Engen and the Norwegians and pretty much every neutral soccer fan in the world dumbfounded.
“I didn’t actually realize what happened,” a very diplomatic Norway head coach Martin Sjogren said through a translator in the post-match press conference. “I need to see it again before I can pronounce myself. I think we were punished a bit, but I’m not sure if it was a penalty or not, actually.”
It wasn’t. Fortunately for Norway they were still able to get through to the next round.
As bad as the VAR decision was to give France the victory in their second game, it was even worse in its next game against Nigeria.
The African champions were putting up a strong resistance in the contest when VAR awarded France another questionable penalty after Nigeria defender Ngozi Ebere challenged France striker Viviane Asseyi for a ball crossed into the box. There seemed to be very minimal contact on the play, but after review referee Melissa Borjas awarded France a penalty and booked Ebere for the second time, leaving Nigeria a player short for the final 15 minutes of the game.
France captain Wendie Renard stepped up to take the penalty but hit the goalpost.
Again, as all the players lined up for the goal kick, VAR intervened and suggested to Borjas she look to see if goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie had a foot off the line. The review showed the goalkeeper’s heel was inches off the line, and so the kick was retaken and Renard scored on the second attempt.
Watching the game in an outdoor café in Reims, even France fans cringed at the call.
A similar situation occurred in Argentina’s three-goal comeback against Scotland when the third goal was scored on a retaken penalty after goalkeeper Lee Alexander was a few inches off her line making a diving save three minutes into stoppage time.
The goalkeeper penalty review has become FIFA’S toe in the crease, which eventually the NHL had to do away with, simply because it was stupid.
Already the English FA said they will not police goalkeepers in such a manner when VAR is introduced into the Premiership this upcoming season.
The controversy is so bad, FIFA had to bring forth former referee Pierluigi Collina, who is now the chairman of their refereeing committee in an in-house interview to try to quell the fire storm.
“First of all, I would remind everyone that for a long time goalkeepers had to keep both feet on the goal line until a penalty kick was taken. This made it very difficult for a goalkeeper to save a penalty and also for the referees to enforce what the law dictates,” Collina told FIFA.COM, not having been made available to the media since his pre-tournament media conference. “Having understood that, we discussed this matter with players and coaches and eventually decided to help goalkeepers by allowing them to have only one foot on the goal line instead of two. Since that change, their job is definitely easier than before, and it is also easier for them to respect the current law than the previous version. Then, if a law exists, referees must enforce it, particularly when tools like VAR or GLT (Goal Line Technology) are available.”
Many soccer pundits will disagree with Collina.