Danish exit and VAR

First of all we have to admit that this was not the same great Danish team that we saw in 2021. Seen over the four matches they played good possession occasionally, but lacked change of pace to counterattack as well as playing too defensively against sides which they were dominating (Slovenia and Serbia). And worst of all, they appeared to lack the fighting spirit that had been so great in 2021.

Therefore, it was no surprise that Denmark lost 2-0 to the German hosts in the last-16; seen over the entire match Germany were probably better, missing many chances against a great Kasper Schmeichel, but at the same time Denmark played a good match where they, with a bit of luck, could have hurt they Germans.

But the match was ruined by bad refereeing underpinned by VAR.

I am not against VAR; I am against bad refereeing. And VAR is just becoming an excuse for bad refereeing. VAR is being used completely wrong, and this is not the first match it has happened. Denmark had a goal cancelled due to off-side. It was one centimeter, barely visible, unless you analyse it in depth. But off-side it was; the problem is when so much time is used to find something that was not immediately obvious.

Then we have the penalty, and here for me the problem is not VAR, but that VAR becomes the excuse for cowardly refereeing. The handball had no influence on the situation and there was no intention from the player. Romelu Lukaku had a goal cancelled for a similar situation in Belgium's match against Slovakia, and both of these situations are complete overinterpretations of what a handball actually is in football.

So it is a pity that the match was ruined by bad refereeing. After Kai Havertz scored on the penalty kick the Danes had to push forward which left space in the back; Jamal Musiala and his speed took advantage of the space to make it 2-0 and effectively close the match as the Danes never appeared to really be able to threaten the Germans after the penalty. 

The match had nevertheless been exciting until the bad referee decision. 

Denmark out, they deserved it, but it is a pity it happened the way it happened.

What is VAR for anyway?

In South America VAR is useless. I remember a Copa Libertadores match when they spent 10 minutes reviewing a goal to find an extremely thin offside in a largely irrelevant situation. And today in the qualifier between Uruguay and Peru we saw what appeared to be a goal that had crossed the line not reviewed by VAR.

Aren't these the exact situations when VAR should be used!?!?

Mind you, I support Colombia (who finally scored seven games later, to win 3-0 against Bolivia), and Uruguay's 1-0 victory over Peru means that Colombia can still qualify with one match left (they have to defeat Venezuela and hope that Peru does not defeat Paraguay). However, if the referee and VAR had not conspired, Peru would have had the chance for direct World Cup qualification instead of a playoff, and that is simply unfair for Peru!

Disgraceful refereeing, but I could be wrong. Judge yourself:

Controversy in France's victory

I have no problem with France winning the Nations League final today, 2-1 against Spain. France went down 0-1 on a goal by Mikel Oyarzabal, but as they had done against Belgium the French side fought back to win the match, firstly by a spectacular equalizer by Karim Benzama, and then a controversial winner by Kylian Mbappe.

The problem with the victory was Kylian Mbappe's winning goal: it was clearly off-side. This time the problem was not VAR, but was the referee's interpretation that a slight touch by the defender Eric Garcia, meant that Mbappe received the ball from the latter.

Although I have read that this constituted the (strange) interpretation of a rule whereby the pass is deemed to come from Eric Garcia. However, if this is correct, it is a dangerous interpretation: the pass from Theo Hernandez  was clearly aimed at Mbappe, who was in an off-side position when the pass was made. Eric Garcia made an attempt to clear, but barely touched the ball as it reached its intended target. This was not an attempted pass from Garcia!

The great Kylian Mbappe was ice-cold in front of goal when given the opportunity.

France deserved to win, and congratulation to them, but it is clear that they won by a goal that in my opinion should not have been allowed to stand.

Colombian indignation

 I watched an interesting match in the Copa America between Colombia and Brazil yesterday. Colombia was in need of a result after losing to Peru and tying Venezuela, while the home-team of Brazil was just expecting to continue their unbeaten run towards the title.

The Colombians were far better organized and concentrated than in previous games and went ahead 1-0 on a spectacular half- bicycle kick by the Porto player, Luis Diaz. Brazil had most possession, and some chances (among them a shot on the post by Neymar), but the Colombians seemed in control, until 10 minutes before the end of the match.

It was a strange situation. A Brazilian pass bumped into the referee, and the ball went to another Brazilian, who played the ball wide, and the cross into the area went to Roberto Firminho, who headed weakly, but past a compliant Ospina in the Colombian goal, who should surely have blocked.

The massive protest from the Colombians were because the play should not have continued when the referee unwittingly passed blocked the ball. The referee and VAR disagreed and awarded the goal.

In my view the goal was ok; the referee is a bump on the pitch, and him unwittingly hitting the ball can go both ways. However, there is little consistency in the rule, and in particular during the Euro 2021 we have seen many referees stop play in such situations.

The protests meant 12 minutes of injury time, and in the dying seconds the Brazilians scored their long awaited winner after a corner kick that found a completely unmarked Casemiro to head Brazil into victory. The Colombians can only blame themselves for such poor defending, but it is understandable that they are angry about the first goal. That said, they showed they are still strong, and should focus on that.

USA-Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League

The inflation of national team tournaments has reached CONCACAF, and yesterday the very first CONCACAF Nations League final was played in Denver, Colorado, between the two all-dominant teams from the CONCACAF region, Mexico and the USA.

It was an eventful match in what I guess must have been historical in being the first final of this tournament. But also, it underlined the almost-hateful rivalry between the two sides that compete to be the best among all the small teams of CONCACAF. And in Denver the Mexican team was almost at home, as Mexican fans seemed to outnumber the home-fans.

Mexican fans have been known to be passionate, if not dirty, and as has been happening a lot recently, the match was suspended temporarily due to Mexican fans' homophobic chants of "puto". It is ok they suspend the match, and have fined Mexico for this. However, I would love to see this kind of approach in other parts of the world, not least Europe, where national teams still seem unpopular for the mere act of kneeling against racism.

The passion of the Mexican fans seemed to provoke the US players who in my view reacted wrongly to the Mexican fans' attacks. In particular when Christian Pulisic scored the penalty kick for 3-2 in extra time, he ran directly towards the Mexican fans silencing them.

A clear provocation that should have cost Pulisic.

After 2-2 in ordinary time (where the USA twice equalized a Mexican lead), USA went ahead on a penalty which was revised thoroughly on VAR. In the dying second of the match Mexico was awarded the chance to equalize on a penalty, but Andres Guardado's kick was saved by the young Ethan Horvath, who had come on as a substitute for goalkeeper Zach Steffan when he got injured. Horvath, who plays in Club Brugge in Belgium had two great saves before taking the penalty that effectively gave USA the title.

Horvath was the hero of the day.

Less of a hero was the Panamanian referee. Granted, it was not an easy match amid the near-hateful atmosphere in Denver, but the referee did not help, failing to efficiently strike down on the numerous little dirty tricks played by both sides.

It was an interesting and eventful match, but it is nearly impossible to want either of these teams to succeed.

Referee defender

Yesterday I was watching a top match in the Mexican League between Cruz Azul and Toluca. It was an excellent match won by Cruz Azul 3-2 (some excellent goals, specially Cruz Azul's third by Guillermo Matias Fernandez), but the main reason for writing about it was one of the most curious situations I have seen in a football match: the referee saved a goal for Cruz Azul at the score 2-0, when he got in the way for a shot into a completely open goal. You can see it here: 

In the end it had no impact on the result, and after the initial complaints, it seemed most players took the strange incident with humour. The referee´s running may be a bit strange, but it is hard to see that he is much to blame for a very strange situation.

VARi-Final

In the Copa Libertadores Semifinal second leg Palmeiras tonight faced River Plate in Sao Paulo. After River Plate had lost 0-3 at home in the first left, I did not have not big expectations to the match as I sat down and watched after a long day. But I was wrong as Marcelo Gallardo's side played a magnificent match and were ahead 0-2 at half-time, and continued attacking mercilessly against a Palmeiras side that at times seemed to be praying.

Palmeiras held, and made it to the final, after 10 minutes of added time and huge chances for River Plate. Despite of it being such an intense match, one left with the feeling that VAR had contributed negatively to its intensity as much of the added time was due to this. 

Gonzalo Montiel scored an excellent goal for River Plate to go ahead 0-3, but after a long time the referee cancelled the goal. For a long time it was impossible to see what happened (the commentators kept saying they could not see anything), but it appeared to be a very tight offside, two plays before the goal, where the ball appeared to be tackled into a player that was coming from an off-side position. Even after watching it five times, I had a hard time seeing the foul, and in the end VAR has helped nothing but Palmeiras and time-wasting.

A second situation was a penalty call for River Plate. For a long time they were ready to kick, until the referee decided to consult VAR, and then cancelled the penalty. This decision appeared less controversial, as the River player does appear to dive, but it is not definite, as there is a challenge. But the referee decision did not stand. In the last minute, another penalty situation (this time it was not given by the referee) could have gone River's way. Add to all this an extremely harsh red card for Robert Rojas, and one has the feeling that River Plate did not have bad luck, but rather VAR luck.

It is a pity, but I do not think that the leaders of football are using VAR the right way; in the end it just becomes another layer to controversy...

Palmeiras will face either Santos or Boca Juniors, who will face one another tomorrow in Sao Paulo, after 0-0 in the first leg.