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Euro 2024: UEFA referees’ chief confirms VAR cleared decision to deny Scotland penalty in Hungary defeat | Football News

On: June 28, 2024 By: admin

VAR did check and clear the decision not to award Scotland a penalty in their
decisive Euro 2024 group game against Hungary, UEFA referees’ chief Roberto
Rosetti has said.

Scotland felt they should have been awarded a spot-kick when Stuart Armstrong was challenged by defender Willi Orban, but their appeals were waved away by Argentinian referee Facundo Tello.

Rosetti said on Friday that the VAR had looked at the incident and decided Armstrong had moved towards the defender and drawn contact.

Hungary went on to win the match 1-0, a result which eliminated Scotland from the tournament.

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke said it was “100 per cent” a penalty and questioned the purpose of VAR “if they are not going to come in for something like that”.

Rosetti was asked about the incident at a referees’ briefing on Friday and said: “This was a very, very tough match with a couple of controversial incidents. There was one in the 68th minute where there was a possible penalty, because John McGinn was pulling the opponent’s shirt.

“Then there was the incident at minute 79. The attacker Armstrong was in front of the Hungarian (Orban). If you watch it from the camera behind, there was movement of the attacker towards the Hungarian.

“The VARs are checking everything, the VAR checked this situation. They decided that this was just a physical contact trying to challenge the defender.”

Rosetti would not be drawn on whether, in his view, the decision was the correct one.

Rosetti did confirm that Tello has been appointed as a fourth official for Saturday’s last-16 match between Switzerland and Italy.

Dean: I’m astounded penalty wasn’t given

Former Premier League referee Mike Dean told Sky Sports News:

“I was a bit surprised if I was being honest, there was a bit of a tangle at the start but it’s a clear foul, a clear knee on the back of the calf.

“I thought the referee was going to give a foul in real time, it just felt like it to everyone watching the game. I was even more surprised the VAR didn’t get involved.

“I think the VAR would have got involved, he’s probably looked at it and the referee’s given some kind of explanation, maybe a tangle of legs or the attacker’s instigated the contact.

“But whatever way you look at it, it’s a clear penalty. They would have looked at it, and the VAR just agreed with the referee – wrongly in my opinion, in everyone’s opinion by the sounds of it.

“Scotland defended well and had chances. If they went 1-0 up, I couldn’t see Hungary scoring a goal with how they defended for the rest of the game.

“It’s just one of those things. I was astounded it wasn’t given. The referee’s probably seen a tangle, but if I was an attacker and I get across a defender and feel contact, you expect a penalty to either be given by the referee, the assistant or by VAR.

“The referees are at that tournament for a reason, they’re the best in Europe or in South America in his case. You’re there to make the big calls, guys have made big calls all competition; this is the first one, apart from Anthony Taylor’s against France on Friday, where we’re talking about the referee and the VAR.”

Euro 2024 – Belgium 0-1 Slovakia: Romelu Lukaku denied twice by VAR as Red Devils suffer shock defeat in Group E opener | Football News

On: June 18, 2024 By: admin

Much-fancied Belgium experienced a disappointing start to their Euro 2024 campaign after losing out to lower-ranked Slovakia 1-0 in their Group E opener.

Ivan Schranz was Slovakia’s hero, capitalising on a Jeremy Doku error and collecting the deflection from Juraj Kucka’s strike, before guiding the ball expertly into the far corner from a tight angle – a move that survived extensive VAR review.

Romelu Lukaku was not quite so lucky. Twice Belgium’s leading scorer had the ball in the back of the net in the second period, and twice VAR intervened to chalk goals off.

The No 9, attempting to atone for a wasteful first half, was ruled a toe offside when slamming home Amadou Onana’s cross in the 56th minute, before rounding off a smart move to plant Lois Openda’s cross beyond Martin Dubravka in the final minute of the 90.

At first glance there looked to be very little wrong with the latter, but VAR was quick to spot the ball inadvertently glancing off Openda’s hand in the build-up, and recommended referee Halil Umut Meler take a second look. He did, and duly accepted the advice of the video official, controversially denying Lukaku once more.

Domenico Tedesco’s side, flat and frustrating for the most part, still created four ‘big chances’ (their most in a Euros game since 1980 vs Spain), but were unable to breach stubborn Slovakia, who top Group E alongside Romania.

Slovakia now face Ukraine on Friday knowing another win would send them into the last 16.

Analysis: Will Belgium ever live up to the hype?

Sky Sport’s Laura Hunter:

Perhaps Belgium are cursed. Perhaps unlucky. Or maybe this ‘golden generation’ simply isn’t as good as the hype – or third-place FIFA ranking – suggests. Whatever the intricacy or issue, they don’t seem to perform as predicted on the big stage.

Lukaku was wasteful, Kevin de Bruyne off-colour, Leandro Trossard ineffective. All over the pitch, in fact, Domenico Tedesco’s side underwhelmed, and that’s despite creating four ‘big chances’ and an xG of 1.91.

Game by game, the shine is flaking off what remains of Belgium’s reputation as one of Europe’s stellar sides. This is a team of individuals, far from a comprehensive unit of tournament winners.

And yet, there was something unjust about their opening game defeat. For all the obvious shortcomings, Lukaku did have the ball in the back of the net twice. The first was ruled offside, and so little argument can be made.

The second decision, however, jarred far more. This is the type of officiating that has drawn suspicion and skepticism in the Premier League, deemed by many as ‘re-refereeing’ – there is justification for both sides.

Lois Openda did handle the ball, but does that mean it’s handball? The rule is subjective, of course, but many believe this brand of VAR intervention to be a stain on the game. Jury’s out.

Either way, Belgium must improve if they are to avoid a repeat of Euro 2022, crashing out at the competition’s group stage.

Stats: Story of the match

Tedesco: We trust the officials

Belgium head coach Domenico Tedesco: “The only thing that we didn’t do well was taking chances. We had plenty. It’s part of the game. Of course the players were disappointed.

“We had many chances, we pressed high. Normally you don’t lose this game. It hurts.”

Speaking about two VAR decisions to deny Belgium an equaliser, he added: “I want to be a fair loser – we trust the referees.”

Opta: Misfiring Belgium punished

Belgium have suffered their first group stage defeat at the European Championship since losing 2-0 to Italy in 2016 – they had won five in a row in the group stages before today’s defeat.
Slovakia have won each of their last four competitive internationals, their best winning run in competitive games since a run of five between 2016 and 2017.
Ivan Schranz’s goal in the seventh minute was the quickest goal Slovakia have scored at a major tournament and his fourth goal in 23 caps for his national team.
Belgium missed four Opta-defined big chances in this match, the first time they’d done so in a European Championship game since 1980 against Spain (also four missed).

So far in Group E…

VAR: Premier League clubs to vote on whether to keep or scrap video assistant referee in Thursday’s Annual General Meeting | Football News

On: June 6, 2024 By: admin

The future of VAR is on the agenda as Premier League clubs meet for their Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday morning.

All 20 top-flight clubs will meet to decide whether to abolish VAR after Wolves called for a vote to get rid of it.

Wolves have been on the end of several controversial refereeing decisions this season and believe the decision review system is “undermining the value of the Premier League brand”.

It is not expected that clubs will come close to receiving the 14 votes required to scrap it. The majority of clubs favour VAR but want improvements made to it.

Premier League stats earlier this season showed correct decisions had increased from 82 to 96 per cent under VAR, with Tony Scholes, the Premier League’s chief football officer, telling Sky Sports in February: “VAR is, and remains, a very effective tool in supporting the match officials on the pitch.”

However, Scholes did also admit: “We are doing too many checks, we’re taking too long in doing them as well. It’s to a degree understandable, given the level of scrutiny these guys are under.

“But the reviews are taking too long and it’s affecting the flow of the game and we’re extremely aware of that and the need to improve that speed while always maintaining the accuracy.”

In Thursday’s meeting, PGMOL chief Howard Webb and Scholes will outline six areas in which they will seek to improve upon VAR moving forward this coming season.

What else is being discussed at the Premier League AGM?

New clubs sworn in: The first point on the agenda at the Premier League meeting is the newly promoted clubs – Leicester City, Ipswich and Southampton – will officially be confirmed as Premier League clubs.

All three will receive their single share, giving them an equal vote on all matters.

Anchoring to be introduced: Clubs will wave through plans for a new “anchoring” system to run in shadow in 2024/25.

What is ‘anchoring’?

In its purest and simple form, anchoring means all clubs would only be able to spend a maximum of the multiple of what the bottom club earns in TV revenue.

At the moment, the bottom club gets £103.6m. If the anchoring multiple, and this has been discussed, is going to be 4.5, then you would do £103.6m x 4.5, which results in £466m.

So £466m would be the spending cap in that instance. That is the maximum cap on what clubs would be allowed to spend on wages, amortised transfer fees and also agent fees.

The details are still to be ironed out, so the multiple may not necessarily be 4.5. This is what is being worked on at the moment.

There will be no punishment for any financial breach of this system within this period. However, clubs can still expect to be charged if they fall foul of the current Profit & Sustainability rules (PSR).

This shadow period will allow time for the system to be evaluated and for the PFA to be consulted. The PFA are concerned about a hard salary cap being introduced.

There will not be a vote on whether it will be fully introduced for the 2025/26 season at this stage.

Two PSR Votes: Two potential amendments to the current PSR rules for this coming campaign will be voted on but are unlikely to be approved by clubs.

First proposed amendment: Aston Villa wish to raise the upper threshold for permitted losses over a three-year period from £105m to £135m.
Second proposed amendment: Crystal Palace have proposed an alternative amendment to raise the permitted lost limit.

Palace’s idea is to alter PSR rules to allow clubs in Europe to claim the difference in UEFA coefficient funding between themselves and the top clubs in the division as allowable losses.

Current UEFA coefficient payments are based on a club’s last 10 years of performances in Europe and therefore benefit traditional elite clubs and disadvantage recent qualifiers – such as Villa.

Will Man City’s legal case against the Premier League be discussed?

As Sky Sports News reported on Wednesday, it is very unlikely Manchester City’s unprecedented legal challenge against the Premier League will be on the agenda.

However, it’s likely to be a hot topic of discussion among executives outside the formal meeting room.

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