2019 Asian Cup

Taking a page from CONCACAF, the AFC will send 30 referees to a tournament with 39 matches.

It's sort of a changing of the card in Asia with only a few big familiar names (Faghani, Irmatov, Shukrallah, etc.) so it's an interesting tournament to watch, particularly as a couple Arab referees will likely be selected for 2022. But I'm mainly posting the list because Mexico is sending a trio led by Cesar Ramos.

http://www.the-afc.com/afc/documents/PdfFiles/afc-asian-cup-uae-2019-list-of-match-officials

 

AFC implementing VAR at the Asian Cup but only for the knockout stages.

http://www.the-afc.com/asiancup/news/implementation-of-var-system-at-uae-2019-takes-centre-stage

Just when you think one of the international soccer bodies takes a bewildering decision, another one comes along to one-up them. If you allegedly have nineteen officials trained in the use of VAR, how do you not also have enough coverage for the group stage?

 

Also, this little pamphlet is interesting but check out the language in the parenthetical for SFP on page 8: http://www.the-afc.com/afc/documents/PdfFiles/a-guide-to-video-assistant-referee-var

 

What happens when you don’t have a lot (any?) practice with AARs?

https://streamable.com/ltzu1

Referee staring right at it from seven yards, gives nothing. AAR, from about 22 yards and looking through six bodies, says it’s deliberate handling. Okay.

I guess there’s no way to know for sure because we have no indication what the standards will be with AFC officials (unlike in other competitions) but I’ve got to think there’s a good chance VAR would say this is obviously wrong. So match 1 gives us a critical mistake that not only would VAR have fixed, but the whole thing would have been prevented without having inexperienced AARs. The obvious own goal from the AFC happens straight out of the gate.

As a side note, I know I’m in the minority but I still think AARs are a good idea even with VAR. But they have to be experienced and well trained. That’s not the case here.

 

VAR would have got this. https://streamable.com/ax42e

 

Amazing start to a match today.

https://streamable.com/azvmy

Great reminder to always be looking for advantage. Referee likely gets the card right, but I wonder if he’ll get knocked for not seeing the advantage here. I know the Vietnam defenders stopped, but the way this played out only an excellent save from the goalkeeper would have prevented a goal.

All very hard to do mere seconds into the match. I’m sure I would have just whistled the foul to ensure I got the early card.

 

Uh-oh:

https://streamable.com/af0vf

Luckily this didn't affect progression or team rankings. But it's not good for Ramos or his AAR. But it will be used as a poster-child for why VARs are preferable to AARs. Too bad about that AFC decision, huh?

 

Ha. I guess these highlights failed to disclose the punchline. The penalty was awarded (and converted, to make the score 2-2).

 

The first tests will be the Asian Cup KO round and the UCL knockout stages.

If the AFC keeps AARs, that might just be political. Honestly, their presence seems to be political but that’s a different matter.

If the UCL keeps AARs, that’s a different matter. It seems like a decision must have been made already, since UEFA just had its major VAR training seminar, but I haven’t seen a definitive public answer yet. I think most people assume they go away due to the resource question, which you allude to. But it also sounds like VARs won’t necessarily be paired with referees based on nationality, so with limited matches to cover in the knockout half of the season, it actually wouldn’t be that tough (the 2019-2020 group stages, on the other hand, seem like a logistical nightmare with or without AARs!).