#4 Testing of the Video Assistant Referees Programme
FIFA selected this international friendly as their first testing fixture for the video assistant referees’ programme. President Gianni Infantino took his spot in the assistants’ bunker to look at proceedings.
There are 2 types of VAR technologies available. The version used in yesterday’s clash was the semi-live version (which essentially means that the referee isn’t allowed to watch the replays on a pitchside monitor). VARs are of best use to resolve 4 kinds of situations – goals, penalty incidents, red cards and cases of mistaken identity.
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The match yesterday did not have much by the way of any of these 4 kinds of incidents, except a contentious incident involving Belotti and two German defenders when the on-field referee came under scrutiny.
Artur Soares Dias waved away the penalty appeal, which looked to be a close call in live time. The rest of the game saw no more need for the assistance of the VAR programme – if FIFA wanted to experiment the VAR system in its full glory, this match was not a great occasion for that.
