Copa America 2019: Argentina requests audio of discussion between VAR room and referee
What's the story?
A huge controversy has broken out as Argentina Football Federation(AFA) has lodged a complaint about the refereeing errors.
The Apex football body of Argentina wants to check audio files of the VAR room, as they believe that the referee refused to change his decision, even though VAR asked him to do so.
In case you didn't know
Brazil beat their arch-rivals, 2-0, to reach the final of the Copa America for the first time in 12 years. Argentina felt hard done by officials, as 14-time winners of the competition believed they deserved at least two penalties.
Heart of the matter
A famous Argentine blog sparked a major controversy by claiming that VAR Leondan Gonzalez admitted to referees commissioner that he told the referee that both were penalties.
But Ecuador referee Roddy Zambrano refused to listen and he didn't review the decision.
Brazilian media confirmed that Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro is also involved in the scandal. The security staff of the president interfered with the radio signals in the VAR room which triggers the speculations about his involvement.
The committee admitted that frequencies were disturbed but they claimed that it was sorted before the kick-off.
The AFA had written a letter to CONMEBOL where they had questioned the integrity of the referees' commissioner Wilson Semeno, who has a poor track record. The Apex Argentina football body also questioned the decision to designate a huge match like Argentina and Brazil to Roddy Zambrano.
Argentina FA wrote that
"We question the integrity of referees commissioner Wilson Semeno, as his long record shows an inability to handle situations if not explicit will to address results. We had protested before the game about Ecuador ref Zambrano, whom in Copa America so far had officiated only Perú-Bolivia, therefore there was no ground for him to be designated for Brazil-Argentina"
What's next?
Amidst all this controversy Brazil will take on Peru in the final of the Copa America. Peru is trying to win the competition after a gap of 44 years, but beating Brazil in Brazil is not easy.