World Cup 2018: Top 3 Video Assistant Referee decisions
Referees have in the past been guilty of making wrong decisions in matches. Even the elite level match officials are human too and have been prone to errors. Some of the notable errors include - missing hand ball incidents, sending off the wrong players, incorrect penalty calls and not spotting off the ball incidents.
To address some of these issues, world football governing body FIFA introduced the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology at the 2018 World Cup to help referees make correct calls.
After much debate, the technology was eventually used in the tournament. On one end, it helped majority of referees in making the right decision. On the other, there arose debates on issues of bias towards certain teams.
Just where did the match referee draw the line? This experimental football development at the World Cup looks like it is here to stay. In Russia VAR influenced many of the record 22 penalties awarded.
These three key incidents had the referee take a second look before making an informed decision.
#3 Griezmann penalty vs Australia
On June 16 2018 France played Australia in their opening Group C match at Kazan Arena, Russia. This match made World Cup history as it was the first time the VAR was used at a World Cup tournament.
The moment of truth was in the 58th minute. Paul Pogba played in a sumptuous through ball to Antoine Griezmann. The striker controlled the ball before being slightly clipped by Josh Risdon from the back.
The centre referee had initially waved for play to continue for about a minute before checking the VAR. Griezmann benefited from one of the top innovations in modern football by slotting home the resultant penalty. France eventually won 2-1 to get their campaign off to a bright start