DOHA: THERE is definitely a war raging against VAR and we have been witnessing players in disbelief as well as fans (watching live in stadia or sitting in front of huge television monitors) fuming over technologically imposed decisions.
Since the Qatar edition opened, there have been many goals being disallowed and many penalties awarded after the VAR interfered. Agreed that through technology certain decisions can be perfect, but the wonder is why the decisions aren’t convincing enough for the players and fans in total.

Does this VAR exercise which was introduced during the 2018 World Cup, need more fine-tuning and should the video referee, think twice before forcing the field referee to watch the replay?

Though we expect an on-field official to be neutral, there is a feeling that the stature of players (for example players like Cristiana Ronaldo and Lionel Messi) has always influenced decisions. After all, the referee is also human and the decision to force video replays on him makes him confused and as a result, sometimes a wrong and questionable act emits from his mind.

Why was VAR introduced by FIFA? It may be argued that video assistance is needed to assist the on-field officials during high-voltage battles. But then, do the officials need stronger minds to resist the influence of star-studded names? The answer is yes…But how? It is for the brains in FIFA to ponder. My intentions are to make the technological decision free of controversies and not influence-based.

If you wonder about my viewpoint, here’s what prompted me to touch upon this controversial point.

Like most of you, I too watched the Argentina-Poland match and also was witness to the penalty awarded to Lionel Messi. I felt, it was not a penalty and many might agree with me…if you set aside the player’s stature from your mind. If you do not agree, then it is a personal view.

Did Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny actually foul Lionel Messi? Unless you are a Messi fan, the answer will be a big ‘No’.

To recall the moment, Szczesny came out to claim a cross in the 36th minute of play. Messi had already connected the ball with his head and only after that moment did the Polish goalkeeper’s glove hit Messi’s face. There was no foul, but just because VAR referred it and the referee after watching the replay awarded the penalty. This did not require the intervention of the VAR.

The penalty was not expected from the highly experienced Dutch referee Danny Makkelie, but he too made a mistake succumbing to the name and stature of the player. Well, as destined Szczesny won the battle by making a spectacular save and denying Messi a goal from the penalty. For the record, this was only Messi’s fourth miss off a penalty in his international career.

The fact is that FIFA introduced new technology to lessen the margin of errors, but contentious decisions have only grown.

However, some of the off-side rulings with modern artificial intelligence are non-questionable. One example is the disallowed goal of Brazil’s Vinicius Junior in their match against Switzerland after Richarlison was caught off-side by the camera before the goal was scored.

However, in the case of awarding penalties, one has the feeling that the men in charge of VAR are bullying the on-field referee to take unpleasant calls.

In comparison Antoine Griezman’s disallowed goal for France against Tunisia was debatable and one can’t understand the logic behind declaring the striker off-side.

Debatable penalties too happened in Portugal’s match against Uruguay and also their match against Ghana. Unlike Messi against Poland, against Uruguay, Bruno Fernandez did the job for Portugal and against Ghana, Ronaldo (CR7) added one more goal to his soaring tally of goals, both influenced by VAR influence.

If that was not the end, the late winner for Japan against Spain was also very much debatable. Even though the ball appeared going beyond the line, the VAR ruled in favor of Japan triggering a Twitter war.

Like these, there were many instances VAR got it wrong. To point out one can replay the first match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia, where goals were disallowed for the champions.

It is high time; FIFA takes a good look into the absurd VAR decisions and gets things back in order so that the fans don’t lose faith. If it is not rectified, the VAR which is already accused of stalling a game’s momentum will be at the receiving end.

Until then, the war against VAR will continue.

FROM THE ARENA THUS FAR

1. The group phase of the cramped Qatar edition is almost over at the time of going to print with 14 teams having already booked the 16 slots of the knock-out phase. Shockers were the exit of Germany, Belgium, and Mexico who were favorites to make the Round of 16. The surprise was Japan’s win over Spain and becoming the second Asian team to make the next phase after Australia. Qualified so far are the Netherlands, Senegal, England, USA, France, Australia, Argentina, Poland, Morocco, Croatia, Japan, Spain, Brazil, and Portugal. Waiting in the wings to join others are Switzerland and Ghana (can expect some surprises too).
2. Hosts Qatar turned out to be the first team to crash out of the race. They lost all three of their group matches to end before signing off.
3. With three goals each, the leading goal scorers are Kylian Mbappe, Cody Gakpo, Marcus Rashford, and Enner Valencia – the last mentioned name represents Ecuador, which is one of the eliminated teams.
4. For the statistically interested, Lionel Messi became Argentina’s most-capped player in World Cups, when he entered the pitch to face Poland. He surpassed the 21-match record held by the legendary Diego Maradona.
5. For former champions Germany this was their second successive exit from a group stage after suffering a similar fate in the previous edition in Russia.