Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Video Replays may not be the Problem

    The match between New Zealand and Mexico in the Confederation tournament in Russia was an ugly match. As a person who resides in the CONCACAF region I tend to follow the Mexican national team quite closely. Monitor their moves on a weekly basis. It was an awful game from El Tri. Not sure if it was due to the line up changes or the team didn't have much respect for their opponents. The all whites came out in all black today, but they played organized and were dangerous on the long balls which caught the Mexican defense out of position on more than one occasion. That is just an ugly game, no one can really change that. Blame the Mexican head coach? sure, but he isn't the first and the only one who has tinkered with his line up when facing a "weaker" side. The ugly part came later on.
   The center referee had quite a handful on his plate therefore I wont use his name. We are human and mistakes are a given. What is special about the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia is that it will be the first international tournament that will use video assisting replay. Or VAR. Which is a big deal for multiple reasons. One being some are strongly against it because it will ruin the beautiful game. A game that is run by an organization that is accused of bribes, tax fraud, and money laundry but the line is drawn on technological advancements. To be fair the proper argument that those who are against VAR make a fair point. That the referee checking video replays will halt or slow the game down. Which is true, but I will counter that wasting game time isn't new. When a player gets sent off or a penalty awarded it can take up to three minutes just to resume play. That is why there is stoppage time added at the end of each half. The center referee had quite a few mistakes, but it wasn't because of the VAR. They were due to human error. Diego Reyes and Rafael Marquez were not awarded yellow cards when they purposely committed a foul to stop play. Now both of those were not dangerous plays and both occasions the players pulled and yanked on their opponents shirts. It can be seen as more tactical than dirty, but both merit a yellow card for it. Most fans, if not all, were aware of that. The referee had to use the VAR to give Diego Reyes the yellow card which should have already been given! There was no if, and, or buts here. That led to a scuffle where a shoving match arose and potential red card offenses could have been committed. THAT is when VAR should come in to productive use. Not to give a yellow that should have been given. That was just awful. That being said I will give credit for the center referee for actually going to the sideline and watching the video himself. The prior two incidents when referees used VAR they trusted the men upstairs. Which is not wrong, but the image it portrays is a negative one. The center referee is putting a lot of trust in others when he has the capability to check himself and receive upstairs information when it is HE or SHE that will be attacked and blame for any little blunder.
  That being said the referee's error was not VAR, even though I strongly believe the VAR was not used properly, driven. I was human error and poor officiating. That being said, this shouldn't be the death sentence to end VAR. It will take time for refs to know how to properly and effectively use it. This match should not define the use of VAR. It was an ugly match that shouldn't be watched as a replay in the first place.