Not VAR off course: FIFA defends video review use at Women’s World Cup
The use of VAR has taken a beating at this World Cup, but FIFA said on Wednesday that it’s working as planned and not ready to kick it to the curb.
Even on a day where no games were played, VAR remained all the talk at the Women’s World Cup.
The use of video review by match officials has resulted in a series of controversial calls at this tournament and in recent days during the Round of 16. While VAR was largely a success at the men’s World Cup in Russia last year, it was also implemented this summer for the women’s tournament.
The result has been a series of often-frustrating calls for players and fans alike.
Former referee Pierluigi Collina, Chairman of FIFA’s Refereeing Committee, used a news conference in Paris as a chance to defend some of these controversial decisions.
VAR can only be used by refs in four situations: goals, a decision to award a penalty kick, issuing a red cards and mistaken identity following a card. The biggest topic of discussion regarding instant replay, however, has been goalkeepers coming off their lines during a penalty kick.
“The only issue has concerned penalty kicks, and honestly we have been a bit surprised,” Collina said.
Collina added that goalkeepers have routinely come off their lines for years and that VAR now allows referees to make the correct call. He also said all coaches of the 24 nations participating at this World Cup had been briefed on the rule changes months ago.
“If we have a tool that can show clearly without any doubt that there is an offside position and a goal is scored by the player who was in an offside position, it doesn’t matter if it was two centimeters… There is not a small or a big offside, there is an offside,” Collina said.
He said a rule change back in March allowing goalkeepers to have at least one foot on the line during a PK, and no longer two, was aimed at helping them.
Unbelievable scenes in France v Nigeria. The keeper saved this but VAR ordered it retaken because the keeper was this much off the line. I’m an advocate of VAR but this is absolutely shocking #FIFAWWC2019 pic.twitter.com/GU4G8AG4v7
— Chris Holt (@HoltChris) June 17, 2019
“If a goalkeeper moves both feet off the goal line before the penalty kick is taken, we have no choice but to order the penalty kick to be retaken. I repeat, it is not a matter of a small encroachment or big encroachment, it is a matter of encroachment, and this is what we can do by using technology,” he said.
But VAR has made things more complicated at this tournament. After the group stage, FIFA suspended giving goalkeepers a yellow card for coming off their line during shootouts used to resolve draws.
Collina also waded into the controversy generated by Cameroon following their defeat to England in the Round of 16. The Africans complained that they lost as a result of some bad calls.
“At the end of the day, the final decision maker is the referee on the field,” he told reporters. “She makes the final decision and of course as always when you make a decision you are responsible for the decisions you make.”
Asked about specific calls, Collina dodged the question, saying: “This is what was used in the decision-making process so this belongs to the referee to our analysis with the referees and this is not part of press conference matters.”
Next. Latest Women's World Cup power rankings. dark
In defending the use of VAR and the rule change, Collina said the Women’s World Cup was no “experiment.”
“We didn’t consider the Women’s World Cup, which is our flagship tournament in 2019 as a World Cup, we cannot consider this competition as an experiment,” he said. “I want only to remind you that the new version of the laws of the game have been implemented in Poland U-20 World Cup for men, has been implemented in the Copa America, has been implemented in AFCON [the Africa Cup of Nations], and also here [in France]. So simply, they are implemented in all the competitions.”
Fully expected VAR to be a complete disaster at WC 2018 in how it was administered. It wasn’t. Turns out they waited a year for women’s World Cup for it to be a disaster.
— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) June 23, 2019
Despite the controversy, VAR has been used less often at this tournament compared to Russia 2018. At the men’s World Cup, through the 64 games, VAR was consulted an average of 3.2 times, Collina said. So far in France, through 44 games, just 1.5 times.
Expect more fireworks during the quarterfinals, which start Thursday when Norway takes on England. The United States will face host nation France the following day in the most-anticipated match of the round.