If you watch one VAR discussion tonight, make sure it's this one. The RTÉ panel don't hold back on their opposition of the new system #rtesoccer #worldcup #VAR pic.twitter.com/eCbnM3o2YK
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 25, 2018
THE RTÉ PANEL gave a scathing assessment of the Video Assistant Referee system following tonight’s controversial Iran-Portugal game.
Cristiano Ronaldo was fortunate not to be sent off for a stray elbow amid a series of other controversial decisions, and watching on from the studio, Keith Andrews, Didi Hamann and Liam Brady were left deeply unimpressed.
Andrews said the game “became a circus,” while Brady felt Iran were the victims of two bad decisions — the penalty that wasn’t and the failure to send Ronaldo off.
The Arsenal legend added that Iran were fortunate to receive the late penalty, explaining: “Because Iran had suffered a couple of injustices, they said to give the [last-minute] penalty.”
VAR farce? The RTÉ panel still aren't convinced by VAR and whether or not the right decisions are being made #rtesoccer #worldcup #VAR #IRN #POR pic.twitter.com/qSm5yKTa8G
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 25, 2018
Hamann, a long-time VAR critic, said there were too many “gray areas” with certain contentious calls for the system to be applied satisfactorily.
“The reason it was brought in in football was to get the right result and the fair result — that is the biggest myth in football because it only takes one decision to get wrong and you don’t get the fair result,” the former Liverpool midfielder said.
“The discrepancy between what we’ve lost in the emotion, heat-of-the-moment decisions, celebrations, sadness, if you compare that to what we got, did it make it any fairer, did it make our product any better? I don’t think it did.”
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