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+---- Thread: OTL001: A Step Too VAR For Catalunya? (/showthread.php?tid=5789)
OTL001: A Step Too VAR For Catalunya? - Lawlore - 2024-10-18
Over The Line Edition #001: S17 Major Matchday 8
A Step Too VAR For Catalunya?
CF Catalunya 0 - 1 AC Romana
Welcome to the first-ever edition "Over The Line", an occasional series of articles where I invite you to join me in taking a closer look at something that's happened in one of the most recent matchday's matches- the good, the bad, the ugly, the bizarre. With Major Matchday 8 now in the books including nothing short of an annihilation of Uniao Sao Paulo by Reykjavik Utd, I've decided to save a study of defensive frailties for another day, and instead turn my attention to your friend and mine, VAR.
Our focus today is on CF Catalunya hosting AC Romana, both teams going into the match in the lower half of the league as we pass the half-way mark for the season. It had all the makings of an interesting clash, both sides feeling they could get points out of it, but what played out on the pitch with the VAR was, at times, something of a farce.
If you're a Catalunya fan, you won't need me to count them off for you, but for the benefit of those in the dark, superstar Grenadian striker Bayley De Allie had not one... not two... but THREE goals disallowed by VAR for offside- two of which occurred with the game still deadlocked at 0-0. The match was bitty, but Catalunya were clearly the ones getting the ball forward more often, so for them to end up on the receiving end of 1-0 defeat, their fans must feel that the lords of technology have got it in for them- even if the video replays did simply show that De Allie kept getting caught a step or two beyond the last defender.
AC Romana, on the other hand, will point to their very own penalty shout just after the hour mark, which was somewhat questionably turned down by VAR despite looking like a stonewall spotkick, and use it as proof that the system shows no favourites. However, it's unquestionably Catalunya who have come off worse from the intervention of technology- on another day, De Allie would be taking the ball home and this match could've ended 4-2 to the hosts, given that Catalunya were also refused a penalty shout in the first five minutes. Instead of that, we're left with yet another unsatisfying chapter in the question of whether VAR is actually improving football by making the decisions more accurate, or sucking the very soul out of the game.
So what do you think- should VAR be scrapped, or should we instead be sitting here recognising AC Romana's back line, marshalled by Breadneeq LaVert, for springing such an effective offside trap to render the Catalunya attack so toothless? For Over The Line, I've been Lawlore.
RE: OTL001: A Step Too VAR For Catalunya? - omniscius - 2024-10-31
VAR hasn't really ever prevented any controversy. If anything, it invites even more controversy. It destroys the flow of the game and while it does make good reversal decisions, it also has sometimes made an arguably bad call despite having more access to replays and time than a traditional official does on the field in the moment of play.