Is the newly introduced VAR technology beneficial or detrimental to football?
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The VAR is an electronic assistance gadget to aid referees in making match changing decisions like penalty, direct red cards and goals.
At first, personally, I felt the VAR was an impediment to the natural flow of football, that it would take away the originality of games. Series of events that have taken place however have made me have a rethink.
The VAR so far has been hitting the right spots, saving officials from commuting horrendous mistakes that could change the face of games.
It is a good addition to football, as long as it continues to get decisions right.
In the English FA Cup of recent in a game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester United defender, Victor Lindelof was shown a red card by the referee but after reviewing, using the VAR, the decision was correctly corrected to a yellow card and he was allowed back into the game.
The VAR would have saved football some ugly situations had it been discovered or introduced earlier.
The match between England and Germany at the 2010 World Cup where Frank Lampard scored a goal that crossed the line but because the referee did not have a good view, it was not counted as one and England went on to lose that game.
I remember at the World Cup in Korea-Japan 2002, the Semifinal game between Turkey and Brazil.
Brazil were to take a corner kick with Rivaldo standing over to do so, then, a Turkey player "passed" the ball to him. The ball hit his leg (softly of course) but Rivaldo held his face and fell to the ground which made the referee send the Turkey player off. Brazil went on to win the game and of course the trophy.
So, the VAR is a good and welcomed addition to the game of football.