With the World Cup finals underway, many football fans are still thinking about the controversial decisions made by VAR, the video assistant referee.
In honor of the 2022 World Cup ending, we’ve rounded up the top five most controversial VAR decisions we’ve seen so far.
Table of Contents
Top 5 VAR Controversies At 2022 World Cup Qatar
Here are the Top 5 VAR Controversies At the 2022 World Cup Qatar, which has to many speculations for fans and the football world.
5: Wojciech Szczesny VAR Decision Vs Lionel Messi
The final game of the group stages between Argentina and Poland was stagnant for the most part. However, things heated up eventually.
The game pushed through 90 minutes plus added time, which ended with the Argentines claiming victory for the encounter. Both countries were able to make it through the quarterfinals due to the result of the other game in the group.
Many people were talking about a VAR decision awarded in the game; at the end of the first 45 minutes, a long pass to Lionel Messi, which he could met up with his head.
Messi had a challenge coming in from Wojciech Szczesny, who had some contact with the PSG man, which the referee overlooked as not good enough for anything to be awarded.
Unfortunately, VAR had to intervene and change the referee’s decision to a penalty which was bizarre based on how it was when the ball came in, and there was no way contact won’t happen in a crowded penalty box.
Lionel Messi couldn’t score the penalty, but that didn’t stop Argentina from beating Poland 2-0, which saw both teams making it.
4: Dayot Upamecano Foul Vs England Players
The game between England Vs France was one game that had a lot of VAR controversies which were just on occasion but multiple.
The first was a said foul made by Dayot Upamecano on Bukayo Saka, leading to the match’s opening goal, which Aurelien Tchouameni scored in the second half.
The incident happened 27 seconds before the game’s opening goal, which saw the French defender forcing off a foul which had contact with Saka.
Unfortunately, instead of a decision by VAR to call out the foul, which was connected with the goal, they decided to let the goal stand for France.
For the second VAR controversy, a foul was committed again by Dayot Upamecano on Harry Kane, who was said to be inside the penalty box. Instead, it was given as a free kick outside the box.
3: Bruno Fernandes Vs Cristiano Ronaldo Goal Decision
The game between Portugal Vs Uruguay in the group stages of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was one of the most significant VAR controversies, which saw two players fighting for a goal.
The match was ongoing in the second half, which saw Bruno Fernandes attempting to make a cross for Cristiano Ronaldo to finish with a header to open the goal-scoring. VAR at the World Cup confirmed the actual goal scorer.
There was a lot of confusion as the decision went to both players before it was later awarded to Bruno Fernandes, which didn’t go well with some of the fans who argued there was contact from Cristiano Ronaldo.
The debate is still ongoing, but it didn’t change anything as Bruno Fernandes was awarded the goal in a game that ended in a victory for Portugal.
2: Shirt Sleeve Decision Vs Croatia Penalty
During the match between Belgium Vs Croatia, a bizarre decision had so many people talking all through the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
The game between both Nations was when Yannick Carrasco brought down Andrej Kramaric inside the Belgium penalty box, which saw the referee pointing to the spot.
Luka Modric was able to take the penalty. Still, referee Anthony Taylor had to stop everything and head to the VAR monitor, which in less than a minute, was overturned as it claimed that Dejan Lovren’s shirt sleeve was offside.
The decision was one which many were outrageous as VAR intervention was seen as not good enough, having decided on calling the buildup to the penalty as offside due to shirt sleeve.
1: Japan Winner Vs Spain
The game between Spain And Japan had whole football fans get jaw-dropping after a controversial decision by VAR, which prevented Germany from making it into the quarterfinals.
Japan, Germany, and Costa Rica headed into the final game of the group stages at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, needing a victory to make it into the next round.
Spain Vs Japan was a crucial game in which, on paper, many already had believed the Spaniards were getting an easy win against the Blue Samurai, but it was the other case after 90 minutes.
Japan came from one goal down to beat Spain 2-1 and advance into the quarterfinals ahead of Germany, who recorded a heavy, which wasn’t enough.
Japan’s second goal was the talk of the tournament as Kaoru Mitoma put a ball that was off the line back on the pitch before a pass to Ao Tanaka, who scored the winning goal.
After the goal, the referee deemed the ball as already out of the line, and VAR had to call back the decision and overturn it into a goal that stood.
The top 5 VAR controversies at the 2022 World Cup Qatar witnessed have been mind-blowing, putting the tournament under many backlashes, just like Russia 2018.
