VAR has come under intense scrutiny at the World Cup after a series of puzzling decisions left fans and pundits struggling to understand its application.
From Ghana’s penalty claim against England to Brazil’s disallowed goal against Scotland and Germany’s opener versus Ecuador, the video official’s involvement has been deeply unpredictable.
The statistics, however, tell a surprisingly familiar story when compared to domestic football in England last season.
In the Premier League, there were 0.29 VAR interventions per game, while the World Cup is currently running at 0.28, an almost identical figure.
On subjective interventions, where the referee must visit the monitor, the Premier League averaged 0.15 per match compared to the World Cup’s 0.17.
Pierluigi Collina, Fifa’s head of referees, believes football is a contact sport and that not all contact constitutes a foul, preferring free-flowing games at a higher tempo.
When stronger challenges are permitted on the pitch, the threshold for a clear and obvious error becomes significantly harder to define and apply consistently.
Other competitions, such as the Champions League, operate with far greater frequency of intervention, averaging 0.47 interventions per game and 0.36 monitor visits per match.
Ghana coach Carlo Queiroz was blunt in his frustration on Tuesday, saying “VAR went for a coffee” after no penalty was given for Ezri Konsa’s challenge on Prince Kwabena Adu.
The tackle was widely considered clumsy and the absence of any VAR review in a match that finished 0-0 surprised many observers watching closely.
Brazil then had a goal ruled out in their 3-0 win over Scotland for a Vinicius Jr foul on Jack Hendry, though replays suggested Hendry had made contact with the Real Madrid forward first.
Former World Cup assistant referee Darren Cann said on MOTD: “There is a little contact before the ball is played but I don’t really feel that it’s a foul.”
Germany’s 2-1 defeat to Ecuador produced further controversy when Leroy Sane’s early goal stood despite Alexandar Pavlovic’s high boot catching the head of Pedro Vite.
Joe Hart responded to the incident on MOTD, stating: “Every single player watching this World Cup right now would have seen this incident and said immediately, that’s endangering an opponent, that’s a high boot, that’s a foul.”
Hart added: “I think it’s the wrong decision,” while Ellen White went further, saying: “I’m shocked that it wasn’t reviewed and it wasn’t disallowed.”
VAR Joe Dickerson then intervened to cancel a second-half Germany penalty, citing a foul by Leroy Sane on Vite from the halfway line in the build-up.
The contradiction between allowing the high boot incident to stand and then penalising Sane for a separate foul struck many as impossible to reconcile.
The big teams have largely benefited from video review throughout the tournament, with the Brazil goal and Germany penalty the only subjective interventions to go against the favourites.
Meanwhile, France did not receive a penalty against Senegal for Sadio Mane’s challenge on Kylian Mbappe, despite the VAR recommending the spot-kick, which the on-field referee rejected.
Collina and his team of 30 video match officials based in Dallas face significant pressure to restore confidence as the tournament continues into its second week.
