Southgate’s VAR query

GARETH SOUTHGATE has confirmed England have raised concerns with FIFA over VAR decisions.

He believes they have been targeted by referees and were denied a clear penalty against Iran when Harry Maguire was rugby-tackled to the ground but VAR did not intervene.

England were used as an example in a video shown to officials before the tournament when Kalvin Phillips blocked off a defender to allow Maguire to score. Southgate’s fear is refs are now on the look-out for his players.

“We put a report in, we haven’t heard anything back as yet,” said the boss (below).

“There was obviously a penalty given the next afternoon so whether that was a consequence of our game being reviewed by the referees or not it’s hard to say.

“We sat in the referees’ meeting and made those points. The concern is the consistency. We know what we’ve got to do right and we know we risk being punished for certain things.

“I think for all the teams in the tournament, there’s a worry when you’re not quite sure what’s going to be given.”