ITV co-commentator Ally McCoist has laughed at FIFA’s decision to bring in a stand-by VAR official for the World Cup quarter-finals. The refereeing at the tournament has come under fire, which has seen FIFA decide to have a primary VAR official and a reserve VAR official on-site at all stadiums for the remaining games.
France’s clash against Morocco was the first World Cup match to have the new change implemented, with ITV lead commentator Jon Champion and McCoist bemused by the decision. The former suggested having fewer officials would likely help when it came to getting the right decisions, while McCoist presented a bizarre scenario which saw him and Champion laugh to themselves.
He said: “It’s not one to tell the grandkids is it. ‘It was brilliant lads, I was a stand-by VAR at the World Cup’. ‘That must have been thrilling, grandpa.’ Come on.”
“‘What did you do at that World Cup, grandpa?’ ‘Nothing’.”
However, with the aim of minimising potential technical issues, two officials will be deployed on-site to help referees for the remainder of the tournament. Leodan Gonzalez of Uruguay and Nicaragua’s Tatiana Guzman were the chosen officials at the Boston Stadium for France’s 2-0 win over Morocco.
FIFA’s decisions on officials dominated the build-up, with an all-Argentine refereeing team of Facundo Tello and assistants Juan Pablo Belatti and Gabriel Chade chosen. Such a controversial decision comes after Egypt’s boss accused FIFA of rigging his side’s dramatic 3-2 defeat to Argentina.
He said: “They want Messi to stay in the tournament. In football, many things happen off the pitch because of interests. What happened was unfair. Egypt deserved to qualify. We were the better team.” In response to such accusations, FIFA’s refereeing chief, Pierluigi Collina, said: “Of course, constructive discussion about decisions will always be part of football, but unfounded allegations have no place in our sport.
“Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials. When this happens, it may provoke reactions that lead to threats against them and their families. This is not right. Equally, nobody can claim that FIFA refereeing can be influenced by anyone, not even by the FIFA president.”