What’s the point in having VAR if you’re not going to use it?
Argentina and Iceland played out a 1-1 draw in their Group D opener in Moscow on Saturday afternoon but this match will be remembered for the penalties that were, and were not.
The Argentines got bolted out of the blocks early on with Sergio Aguero displaying the same neat footwork we’ve been lucky enough to witness in the Premier League over the last seven years. After confining the gallant Iceland central defensive pairing to statues, the little wizard lashed to the roof of the net off the left in such an emphatic manner that Ronnie Whelan thought Lionel Messi was the scorer.
Jorge Sampaoli’s side’s Achilles heel came wasn’t long rearing its head. Their shaky defence coughed up a cheap goal to the big, burly Bundesliga forward Alfred Finnbogason a couple of minutes later.
In the second half, this one went all the way down to the wire. Predictably, Argentina enjoyed the lions share of possession and were well on top but Iceland are resilient, they are resolute and they threw their bodies in front of everything.
But, eventually something had to give and just after the hour mark they conceded a cheap penalty. This penalty was blatant, it was clear and with Iceland’s fate in the hands of Lionel Messi, needless to say they were in a perilous position.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man and keeper Halldórsson spread himself to keep Messi’s effort out.
But the controversy was only around the corner. A couple of minutes later, Argentine substitute Pavon was fouled inside the box and it looked like a blatant penalty. The Polish referee, Szymon Marciniak, felt he had a good enough view of the challenge and he decided against using the video assistance aid, and against rewarding the penalty.
Surely, however, if there was any doubt at all, the ref should avail of the system that’s in place to avoid controversies like this one.
In fairness to the refs, these are lads coming from leagues where VAR wasn’t in operation and it can’t be easy for them to adapt to their new surroundings.
Former German international Didi Hamann criticised the shortcomings of the system on RTÉ after the game.
“This is the perfect incident why VAR was brought in…It’s a clear penalty. This is why I’m very opposed to VAR, if they don’t go in in this incident, when do they?” he said.
It’s a debate that’s sure to rage on, but there’s no doubting that Argentina must take a portion of the blame for this too. They whined at the ref constantly throughout the game, missed a penalty of their own and failed to break Iceland down when they needed to.
