FIFA calls video assistant referees (VAR) “the future of football”.
But they are providing to provide just as much controversy as the regular men in black. VAR is currently being trialled at the Confederations Cup, and the Cameroon v Germany match saw a moment of pure VAR madness.
Cameroon’s Ernest Mabouka was penalised for a high tackle on Emre Can. It went to the VAR, where the severity of the offence was upgraded from a yellow to straight red. Only then, the ref appeared to send off Sébastien Siani – who if you’re keeping track, wasn’t the player who committed the foul.
More VAR confusion! Foul given, ref checks replay, sends off wrong player, checks again…sends off right player! Watch now on @ITV pic.twitter.com/V63cki3HSN
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 25, 2017
Understandably, the Cameroon player went crazy, and it went back to the VAR, after which Mabouka was rightly sent off.
Siani himself said in an interview last week, when asked about VAR:
It’s the future. Sometimes we need technology and this can help.
It certainly helped him out today.
