He did give a card for diving after review. There was an additional controversy that the match official said he wasn't shown the angle at ~1:08. The broadcast network however say that he did.
I'm glad I'm not a VAR official. I see the contact from the keeper, but it still looks like a dive to me. I'm not sure how I would call that if I had to make the decision.
Not soccer VAR, but Micheal Lewis (author of Money Ball and Liar's Poker) has a new podcast called Against the Rules. The first episode (called "Ref You Suck!") is focused on referees, particularly the NBA and its video review room. Obviously not soccer, but might be of interest to some here.
We may be about six months away from renaming the sport “penalty kick ball.” https://streamable.com/m41yf https://streamable.com/6mi0a For good measure, same match: https://streamable.com/a1afv If anyone thought VAR would take pressure off and attention away from referees, they were wrong. Granted Spain is Spain. But I think the system in England combined with the new handling Law is going to make the 2019-2020 EPL season something else. The sport is changing right before our eyes.
Not to mention the thing they were trialing at Generation Adidas. That definitely has no place in the game.
Today's Getafe vs Sevilla match was Mateu Lahoz's fifth time refereeing Sevilla this season. His VAR on this one was Martinez Munuera.
I listened to that podcast. Just outstanding stuff. I really liked the study about how people with perceived privilege think the rules don’t apply to them.
The lip-readers at "El Día Después" did their work on Mateu Lahoz, VAR, and the Getafe vs Sevilla match (in Spanish):
@MassachusettsRef I think you might be onto something with the sport becoming "penalty kick ball." This penalty was given via VAR in Spain. I really think nobody had this in mind when VAR was first introduced. Am I seeing things wrong, but wasn't handling committed first by the Barca player.
If you watch enough of the sport, you would recognize that the threshold for fouls (both physical and handling) is lower in Spain. Much like the threshold skews higher in England. There seems to also be a lower threshold for VAR involvment in La Liga. I know we had some softer handling VAR calls in the World Cup, but these few examples are to another level.
Penalty kick ball continues in Spain. Atlético Madrid vs Valencia, around m. 75. Center referee Hernandez Hernandez has awarded Valencia a penalty kick after a VAR review for handling. I’ll try to find video to post later.
Here it is. Good decision IMO. The arm moves towards the ball to block a shot on goal. Although I think Torsten Frings thinks it was okay. https://streamja.com/1lek
Thank you, and agreed. It looks like Hernandez Hernandez needed very little time reviewing the tape to make the decision.
From Poland: https://streamable.com/94fcj In order, best I can tell: 1.) AR delays a flag for a close offside decision because it’s an OGSO 2.) Referee calls handling and awards penalty 3.) AR flag goes up, offside given. 4.) VAR reviews the situation and determines that offside is objectively incorrect. As offside does not require an OFR (outside MLS), the play should revert to the penalty at this point. 5.) But the Referee does an OFR, presumably on the VAR’s recommendation. 6.) Upon viewing the OFR, Referee determines the penalty was a clearly wrong decision. Since the whistle went while the ball was in play (allegedly), you end up with a dropped ball. Total disaster. A red card and penalty or—at the absolute very least, a corner kick—becomes “keeper’s ball.”
This one's not as complicated: back to Spain, back to handling/no handling, penalty/no penalty. Atlético Madrid vs Valladolid, 86th minute. Atlético leading 1-0, from around 0:45 in the video. Referee Melero López decides no handling after review.
In essence, without VAR, we have offside for the defending team. So similar outcome I suppose, without all the drama. But ultimately it is the correct call that it is not a penalty under current interpretations, am I right on this one?
Another example of, except in tennis, where replay really does make everything worse. Who, other than the owner of the horse that got bumped, and maybe degenerate gamblers who had their life savings on the runner up horse, wants this. Just awful. Replay really doesn't add much to most sports.
"VAR" has been in horse racing for decades. Who wants it? Most everyone who would like horse racing to operate fairly. It's been used to detect cheating and reckless jockeys who will get fined or banned from racing. I've seen it used to detect problems with the starting gate mechanisms. You can imagine all the possible cheating in a sport driven by gambling. Video replay helps keep things somewhat on the level.
While our President seems to think he knows more about horse racing than the folks who run the Derby and has criticized the stewards, the LA Times this morning was reporting that surveys of actual trainers in horse racing have pretty consistently agreed that DQ was proper.
From Serie A. https://streamable.com/14u34 How is this fun for anyone involved? This can’t be where we really want to take sports.