VAR is not perfect, but its better than the alternative

Perhaps the most famous moment in the history of the world’s most popular sport was its most controversial. That moment would be Diego Maradona’s “hand of god goal” in the 1986 World Cup. It is the most controversial goal in the history of the beautiful game, simply because it should not have counted. Take our country as an example too. The biggest game in the history of the US Men’s National Team was also smeared by controversy. Against a German side playing with 10 men, the USA should have been given a penalty midway through the second half of the 2002 World Cup Quarterfinals. The referee did not see the obvious hand ball in the penalty area, and Germany won 1-0. In the last couple years, the biggest stages in the game have done a great job taking controversy out of the game with the introduction of Video Assistant Referee (VAR), but for some reason many pundits hate it, and think it should be abolished.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia was the first time VAR had been used in a major competition. VAR was well-received throughout the entire tournament, as penalties were given when originally would not have been given because the referee did not see it, or goals were allowed or disallowed because the linesmen’s flag stayed up or down. Players were also sent off if video review showed that a player deserved to see red. It was a massive success. The next big competition to have it was the knockout stage of the 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League (UCL), and VAR played a massive role during that season, and had VAR not been there, there would be lots of controversy.

An excellent example of why soccer needs VAR occurred at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur played the frantic final minutes of the second leg of their UCL quarterfinal. City led 4-3 on the night, but on aggregate it was 4-4, and Spurs appeared to be going through on away goals. Suddenly deep in stoppage time, Man City’s Raheem Sterling beat Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and it appeared City had scored a dramatic late winner. VAR showed that Sterling was clearly offside, goal was disallowed, and Tottenham went through. Imagine had that goal counted, the controversy would have been absurd. It’s a good thing VAR was there. At the Parc des Princes in Paris a month earlier in the last sixteen, the same situation occurred. Manchester United led Paris St Germain 2-1 on the night but trailed 3-2 on aggregate. If United scored one more goal, they would go through on away goals. Late in the match, Man United had a late shot into the area, that was blocked and went out for a corner. Once VAR got involved, a clear handball violation in the box by PSG occurred. Because of VAR, a penalty was given to the visitors, and Marcus Rashford buried the penalty to send his side through.

Perhaps the English Premier League (EPL) is the league were VAR is most controversial. New for the 2019/2020 season, the EPL has seen no shortage of VAR drama. Goals have been given and disallowed every weekend, and one of the biggest decisions happened to be at the Etihad again. City and Spurs was the match again, this time in the league, and a late winner by Gabriel Jesus was ruled out for a small handball infraction by teammate Aymeric Laporte. The goal was disallowed, and Pep Guardiola’s side dropped points in the Premier League for the first time in 15 matches.

The fact of the matter is these decisions via VAR are making the game fairer. Nobody likes it when a big match, or any match, is decided by a bad decision by the referee, or clear offsides is missed by the linesmen. This makes sure that those kinds of mistakes are a thing of the past. Referees are human, and people make mistakes. Video review certainly does not make those kinds of mistakes. The point that anti-VAR pundits are making is that goals should not be disallowed because of players offside by mere millimeters, and maybe the laws of the game should relax those rules a little bit, but VAR is needed.

Soccer is the most popular thing on the planet, and when the world is watching, the best players in the world need to decide the outcome of a match, not an honest but blatant mistake by the officials.