No referee has ever done the Asian Cup Final twice before. Is this about to change? Will the referee already with the most World Cup matches under his belt write another piece of history?
He sure will... 1 February 2019, 15:00 CET - Abu Dhabi (Zayed Sports City Stadium) JAPAN - QATAR Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (UZB) Assistant Referee 1: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (UZB) Assistant Referee 2: Jakhongier Saidov (UZB) Fourth Official: Ma Ning (CHN) Video Assistant Referee: Paolo Valeri (ITA) Assistant Video Assistant Referee 1: Muhammad Taqi Aljaafari Bin Jahari (SIN) Assistant Video Assisstant Referee 2: Chris Beath (AUS)
I was trying to find a way to download a free Irmatov "man management special" photo of the palms-down/"settle-down" gesture to be the official photo of the 2019 Asian Cup final referee, but Apple's new screen shot application is a mess.
I don't blame Irmatov here. Once he's called over by the VAR, I don't see how you can't say it's a penalty. Similar to Mateu Lahoz at the World Cup and even Pitana in the Final. I would say two things, however. First, this simply is not what people wanted VAR for. There are components of VAR that are working really, really well. But we've now seen two handling decisions, un-called by the referee, that were subsequently awarded via VAR in two major international finals (WC and Asian Cup) when I don't think the average observer would say a non-call is "clearly wrong." For some reason at the international level, VARs are using rigid classroom instruction to determine handling offences in the penalty area while they simultaneously seem to go to great lengths to avoid using rigid classroom instruction around SFP. Second, while the announcer's targeting of the referee is unfortunate, his actual sentiment reflects a reality that exists. This is why the IFAB is feeling so much pressure to "figure out" handling.
If you wanted to piss off Qatar, what about yellow card for kicking the ball away after the goal (delay) and then second yellow for removing the jersey?