Even during this weekend’s matches, the play on the field was enough to ignite intense debate. Unsurprisingly, controversial VAR decisions riled up players, analysts, and fans. Szoboszlai’s turn in the penalty area was impressive, shoving Sunderland centre-back Dan Ballard out of the way. Even after this incident, the referee refused to call a foul. This incident, like many others, has raised questions. More importantly, it reopened fans’ wounds regarding VAR in terms of consistency and application, especially during the most important and pivotal moments of the game.
The situation that led to Szoboszlai’s penalty played out when the player stormed into the box, making contact with Ballard. All of this was compounded by an unnecessary VAR review after no foul was called, which took over five minutes to determine. While talks were still ongoing between administrations and movers-and-shakers, the result of these deals turned out to be the central discussion in the post-game analysis.
VAR Controversy and Player Reactions
The sequence started when Dan Burn tried to go around Ballard. As Burn moved to cut him off, Ballard could tell he was in the clear and put his legs down, bracing for a collision. Szoboszlai crashed into Ballard from behind. This controversial decision ignited long-running discussions amongst players and fans alike as to whether or not headshots in the game should be penalized.
It took the match referee Thomas Bramall stepping in – notably by directly calling out Bentancur, telling him, “You’re going the wrong way.” This incredible moment demonstrated how confused everyone was about the officiating during that awful sequence.
Jay Bothroyd commented on the situation, stating, “He realizes he is ahead of Szoboszlai. When he’s ahead of him, he tries to back in to initiate contact.” This quote lays bare the ridiculousness of player positioning/intent that has come to plague VAR as a reason to not overturn incidents.
“That’s a mystery to me – why he identifies that and then ignores it.” – Jay Bothroyd
The Role of VAR and Officiating Decisions
In the other match involving Newcastle United, an inexplicable red card was shown. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was awarded the penalty after he dragged down Dan Burn. And Rob Jones, the VAR official, was responsible for looking at the play. First he had to decide whether Dan Ndoye was offside and whether he did so by interfering with the goalkeeper’s line of sight.
The controversy was only deepened as VAR was immediately accused of applying the technology inconsistently from match to match. At our briefing last fall, Dermot, an analyst for U.S. PIRG, shared his alarm over the way rules are applied—especially when big impacts are involved. In his testimony, he noted that uneven officiating is a recipe for catastrophic disaster. This is even more true in high-pressure environments such as a World Cup.
“It comes out of massive fear. Imagine two teams are playing in the World Cup final, five minutes to go. That incident happens, a goal is scored and a team win or lose the World Cup on that. It will never be forgotten or forgiven.” – Dermot
This attitude reinforces the idea that VAR is in fact the key to match outcome. It spotlights the critical need for more disentangled officiating protocols.
Calls for Consistency and Rule Adjustments
As panel conversations persisted about the effect VAR was having on matches, Jamie Redknapp went off on the lack of consistency with recent officiating calls. He pointed to Newcastle’s clearly wrong penalty awarded against Tottenham as an example. This incident shines a bright light on a widespread problem unfairly judging and awarding these penalties.
“You can’t change rules during the season. I genuinely think big rule changes can happen, but you should be able to make modifications during the season,” he stated.
Dermot also said that any new officiating protocols should be tested extensively before being rolled out. “You can’t change the rules or protocols without an experiment,” he noted. He recommended that rule changes first be tested in lower divisions or youth tournaments. After these successful trials, they’re typically brought into more competitive and higher-stakes matches.
“Usually if you’re going to do it, you usually do it in a youth league or a league in another country.” – Dermot
The continued conversation about VAR shows that we need more consistency and above all transparency in officiating. Unprecedented challenges are being met every day as teams and players take on today’s issues head on. They are adamantly advocating for changes that don’t sacrifice quality of the game.
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