That game was a shambles. That ref looked like he was going to faint every time he was leaning on the VAR screen. Clearly out of his depth.
Iran are a bunch of hooligans, but they gave it a good go. Probably edged the game overall, actually.
Credit for getting his own hair gel brand though.
Him and Lavolpe, the only people in the world I genuinely hate(d).
The thing is the referee made the correct call first time round every time he just overturned it whenever the goons in the bunker told him to look again.
Crazy to think Iran were that clear cut chance at the end away from winning their group.
If only Iran had scored there. The SCENES.
The Iranian who missed that chance at the end will be in line for fifty lashes tomorrow.
Just seen the Spain VAR goal. Looks like it was pretty blatantly onside?
Quaresma's goal really was class. I bet he'd have made it big at a top club if he wasn't a complete lunatic.
For me VAR has got all 3 of those decisions wrong. You can obviously blame the referee, but still, the current system of reviewing everything and overturning everything if the VAR guys recommend you view it needs to fuck off.
The Spain one looks like it was a good call though.
Seething that I missed the games
On the Ronaldo red card thing, surely the VAR red card review, for an obvious error by the ref, can only end in either nothing, or a red card? Not issuing a yellow card (for nothing) is not an obvious error, and how that one was deemed review-worthy, whilst Lingard's face being deliberately smashed in by some Panamanian cunt (which would also have been a penalty) wasn't is anyone's guess. Well, Moscow's.
This stuff is going to only get worse as the tournament goes on. It's the kind of random madness that could see a real outlier winning the whole thing.
Is the clear and obvious error thing actually in the job description for this tournament?
It genuinely can't be "clear and obvious" I don't think, because some decisions are taken by the VAR crew, while in others they prompt the ref to go for the on-field review. Surely the latter means it's neither clear nor obvious?
It could be that the VAR crew overturn the ref's decision only if it's a clear and obvious error and in the other cases he has to go and watch the replay?
The VAR crew never overturn it, they just prompt him to have a look, and then he has the option to overturn it. So it's the prompting that is daft, and then making it worse is the referees' apparent inability to reject stupid prompts.
The Tunisian fans were great. They made such a racket that made the stadium shake. Portugal are lucky that pleb couldn't finish.
Several articles suggest that they can overrule it without an on-field review. They could well be wrong of course.
Edit: From the VAR handbook:
"Once the review is initiated, the referee has the option to:
• make a decision based only on the information received from the VAR or
• review the footage directly before making a final decision (on-field review – OFR)"
So it's in the referee's hands if he will check the footage or just accept the VAR's decision.
Last edited by Adramelch; 25-06-2018 at 09:34 PM.
Good point. Iranians.
Iran were absolutely great. Easily the best performance of any side relative to available talent.
Lookibg forward to Uruguay absolutely doing Portugal.
That one might end up going to PKs.
If ever there was a nailed on awful 0-0 it's Uruguay - Portugal.
The title of this thread makes me twitch.
Three out of the four codes.
The referee shouldn't need to check the VAR. They should just tell him the decision in his ear. That would cut the time decision in half.
I don't understand why they need a room full of people (other than the gravy train opportunities it presents), it introduces far more opinions, and therefore inaccuracy, than you would ever want.
Last edited by Disco; 26-06-2018 at 10:37 AM.
It needs to be speeded up. Its too slow currently.
It's really not, your average goal kick takes not much less time.
There were decisions yesterday that took 3 to 4 minutes and it's completely taking over the game as a result. It should never have been like that.
Have you ever checked how long an average goal kick takes when they're not timewasting?
I wish all the people moaning about it would just say 'I don't want VAR' instead of making these pathetic excuses. Currently, for every 30 seconds the ball is in play, it's not being played for 18 seconds.
It's 30-55 seconds. There's on average 17 goal kicks a match. That's 8.5 minutes if they take the low side. As I say, if you can fix the fact that the ball spends almost as much time out of play as in play, then you can moan about it but currently I'd rather they reach the right decision than moan about it taking a while.
Walls all around.
Is anything to do with football good when watched through the prism of Arsenal?
It's so unnecessary and goalkeepers are all posing twats.