SOCHI: VAR has grabbed centre stage at the World Cup, with the system that was supposed to provide ‘minimum interference’ instead having a major and highly controversial impact.

The final games in Group ‘B’ on Monday were heading into injury time with Portugal on course to top their group and Spain set to finish second, when the advice of the Video Assistant Referee officials in two separate games changed everything.

In Kaliningrad, Spain were awarded an equaliser to snatch a 2-2 draw against Morocco when an Iago Aspas goal was given after VAR helped Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov to reverse a mistaken offside call.

At the same time in Saransk, Paraguay official Enrique Cace­res was persuaded to give Iran a penalty for a handball by Portu­gal’s Cedric Soares that could hardly be considered deliberate.

Karim Ansarifard netted the spot-kick, earning Iran a 1-1 draw, and relegating the Euro­pean champions to second place in the section.

Now Cristiano Ronaldo and his team must face Uruguay in the last 16. In contrast, Spain will probably be happier with a tie against Russia in Moscow and could now have a theoretically easier path to the final.

That hardly sits well with FIFA’s statement as they introduced the new system to the biggest tournament on Earth, saying: “Our goal is minimum interference for maximum benefit.”

Of course, that was a reference to the flow of the game itself rather than the potential impact decisions could have further down the line.

Morocco’s Noureddine Amra­bat made clear his feelings at the end of Monday’s game as he looked into a TV camera and mouthed: “VAR, it’s bullshit”.

But while Spain’s equaliser was correctly given, the decisions in Saransk were more controversial.

Ronaldo missed a penalty awarded after the referee rever­sed his decision, and was later shown a yellow card following a review of a possible elbow offence. It had the look of a fudged decision when an elbow would normally lead to a red for violent conduct.

“An elbow is a red card in the rules. In the rules it doesn’t say if it is Messi or Ronaldo,” fumed Iran coach Carlos Quei­roz, who said VAR was ‘not going well’.

Iran are now out, and they leave a competition that is being dominated by VAR to an extent possibly greater than the system’s critics could have imagined.

There have already been 20 penalties given at this World Cup, a tournament record before the group stage has even concluded.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2018