On the whole.... What did everyone think of VAR? I liked it. I think the process can be improved with some tweaks but I give it 1.5 thumbs up. Davinson probably would give it 2 thumbs up
Think it's very useful and prevented some disasters. Wish it could be applied in more situations actually where the booth knows the on field ref had the call wrong.
Have been sent this... shows no offside for France’s first goal. Just. Stills via VAR. pic.twitter.com/nPoISWgZLf— Richard Conway (@richard_conway) July 15, 2018 I liked it
It was much better than I expected. There was still a lot of controversial calls and I think that sometimes referees on the field used it to their convenience. There’s room for improvement but overall it was a success Imho. Question: what the heck happened in the award ceremony? Did some intern from the WH plan the whole thing? What a mess!!!
I think VAR was great, not perfect but it corrected a ton of calls and helped the smaller less dominant countries for the most part. Usually the big sides get a bias from the refs, that doesn't completely negate that but it helps to combat it. Think they could have done more, small corner kicks and throw ins they could easily reverse like the one we didn't get vs England.
Also it should be more clear when they go to the VAR and when they aren't. Or maybe every coach can get 2-3 times per game when he can ask for VAR. For example, England's non-exist PK which ruined our chances. Why Geiger didn't go to the VAR? None of the refs didn't see that Sanchez was pushed first? But I agree that in general it was a good addition.
In the nfl coaches can challenge. Should be the same in soccer. tho if that happens then refs can’t help big teams and Iran would have knocked out spain and Colombia could have been in the final. But no Fifa wants big market teams to get far
In soccer they don't have stops consistently like they do in football. The VAR team reviewed it but they didn't signal the ref, so really that's still on referees decisions but the VAR refs which is fine imo. I think the VAR team should be a bit more liberal with things that are close like that penalty against us and clear cut mistakes on things like corners or throw ins, that takes a second and you can signal the ref to reverse if he gets it wrong.
the corner not called for Colombia and Croatia was FKING disgusting. As was the flop that lead to France 1st goal in the final. With Var shirt pulls and dives should be carded. What most annoys me is you cant find replays of shit from 2018. I want to see Baccas goal, the PK and the corner against England. Why wasn't it a goal the 2nd ref stopped the 2nd ball from going in and the whistle wasn't blown till Falcao crossed. also the PK against Croatia in the final. It hit a french player then bounced off to touch Persic. SO WTF is the defender suppose to do? Is that what attacking players should do now? Try to head to chest the ball into a players hand every cross to get a VAR decision.
It's definitely needed. However there needs to be consistency. Not calling for all plays to be reviewed however the "when they call for the review" or "play on" goes about, it's inconsistent. Not to mention, perhaps they need a constant central authority center in the VAR center rather than different referees all the time. It goes back to maybe the Italian sees something that the Argentine didn't etc... It became very odd that the VAR was a big help in the group stage then virtually non existent in the knockout rds...