Without really clear camera angles, video assistant referee (VAR) technology caused controversy in the first match of the V-League 2023/2024 season.
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| Without really clear camera angles, the video assistant referee (VAR) technology caused controversy in the first match of V-League. (Photo: Tuan Bao) |
The incident occurred in the match between Hai Phong and Hoang Anh Gia Lai at Lach Tray Stadium yesterday afternoon (October 20). This was also the first match of the Night Wolf V-League 2023-24 (the season lasts from Fall 2023 to Summer 2024).
In the 74th minute of this match, a controversial situation occurred, Hai Phong players claimed that the ball touched Hoang Anh Gia Lai defender Diakite's hand in the 16m50 area of the mountain town team.
Referee Nguyen Dinh Thai, after about 3-4 minutes of talking with the assistants in the VAR room, went to the screen to review this situation (it took about 4 more minutes).
What is worth mentioning is that after the total time of about 8 minutes mentioned above, the back and forth exchange between the referee team, as well as reviewing VAR technology, there was still no clear slow-motion replay to see whether the ball had touched the hand of the Hoang Anh Gia Lai team's central defender or not?
Referee Nguyen Dinh Thai decided to award Hai Phong FC a penalty, foreign striker Lucas Vinicius of the port city team successfully kicked the ball, opening the score for the home team.
As said, the penalty was the referee's decision. In reality, even VAR could not confirm whether the ball actually touched defender Diakite's hand or not?
On his personal page, former Deputy of the VFF Referee Board Doan Phu Tan wrote: "A situation that really needed VAR and VAR was involved. The player in the dark shirt (Diakite of Hoang Anh Gia Lai) clearly had his arm outstretched when the ball came. If the arm touched the ball, a penalty would have been accepted, there is no denying it."
"The problem is, did the ball hit the hand, chest, or shoulder? VAR did not have the correct answer for the referee, making the referee and the assistants in the VAR room confused," former Deputy of the VFF Referee Committee Doan Phu Tan shared more on his personal page.
According to Mr. Tan, he also questioned whether the camera angles were sufficient or not, the quality of the images provided by VAR to the referees, "is it enough to be called VAR or not?". This needs to be improved.
This is the first season that VAR has been officially used in the V-League (some matches at the end of last season were considered as the VAR testing phase). The Hai Phong - Hoang Anh Gia Lai match was the first match of the V-League season to apply VAR.
Incidents in the early stages of VAR use are inevitable. However, overcoming the disadvantages of this technology and moving towards better operation is what needs to be aimed for.
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