The system’s success in North America this season will go a long way to deciding VAR’s place in the gameFC Dallas thought they had clawed a goal back. Maxi Urruti reacted quickest to a loose ball in the box, and found the back of the net to give the Texans a lifeline against the Philadelphia Union. On any other weekend previously this season, the goal probably would have stood. FC Dallas may well have mounted a late comeback on the back of it. This weekend, however, Major League Soccer debuted its new VAR system. Urruti’s goal was its first case study.Indeed, replays showed that Cristian Colman made contact with Philadelphia goalkeeper John McCarthy before Urruti took his shot. The decision,...
Not all rule changes lead to a better game, but losing the phrase ‘seenemgiven’ would be no bad thingFootball has many peripheral delights, the post-goal ball-scuffle among them. But the speed with which the game restarts should not affect its outcome, and as such the International Football Association Board was right to identify timekeeping as one area requiring reform, even if its proposal – two 30-minute halves – will only eliminate timewasting, rather than deliver more actual playing time. Anyway, here are five further suggestions to improve things. Related: Breaking the Law: take the penalty area out of penalty decisions Related: Football rule-makers to consider reducing games to 60 minutes Players must be permitted to celebrate goals as outrageously as...
Keith Stroud’s bizarre interpretation of the penalty encroachment rules in the Newcastle-Burton game will haunt him for the rest of his careerThe fact that the referee Martin Atkinson sounds even more like the comedian Bob Mortimer than he looks was not the most interesting revelation to emerge from Sky’s recent effort to show the human side of match officials on The Referees – Onside with Carragher and Neville.Criticism from fans goes with the territory of whistle blowing but, asked how he feels about his staff being criticised by former peers-turned‑pundits such as Howard Webb, Mike Riley, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited managing director and former referee, explained to embedded reporters Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville that it is in...