Not really. Several of the red cards from this weekend were easily passed in severity by a few of the hands to the face in Russia that either got ignored or sanctioned with yellows. Not to mention the two times a Croatian player blasted the ball into the head of a prone opponent at a stoppage.
True. I’ve forgotten so much of the World Cup at this point (somewhat deliberately). I guess the question is, which is the most “correct” application of VAR. Sans any political BS influencing the decisions.
Yes. I don't buy the dive argument--GK gets a lot of him. And I don't see that ball as far enough away that I would be encouraged to look the other way. The no-PK at about 4:50 is also interesting. It raises the question of when and how to apply the Esse "taking a risk"--player is lunging and ball hits hand on way toward goal. Is this (A) a call that PRO is teaching not to make, or (B) a call that is too close to be clear error? Is it a failure by the VAR to send it down or by the R to not reverse?
Interestingly I believe the VAR on the game with the potential handling was Katja Koroleva, a FIFA referee likely getting most of her training directly from FIFA resources at the international level, rather than from MLS (I base this on not having seen her get an on field Referee assignment yet) She is the one that recommends the Referee to take another look. I see this as an indication that she probably applied the Esse “taking a risk” instruction which is a FIFA teaching. It’s not 100% but this might be an indication that MLS has done the same as UEFA and made their own standard, contrary to FIFA.
GK does stretch out and get ball, and has nowhere to go in order to avoid the player colliding with him. This is a similar situation to those shown on a lot of FIFA Futuro collections wherein the GK gets the ball and the player then collides with the GK, and it's deemed NF/NC in those situations.
I'd buy that as to any contact with the right leg, but not the contact with the left leg--GK arm moves up into the left leg. I think this is a foul--though don't know I would call it clear error to support VAR if it was not called.