World Soccer - UK (2020-10)

Premier League

VAR stats 2019-20:

Fair play?

Perfect choice

GLOBAL FOOTBALL INTELLIGENCE

Total overturns: 109

Leading to goals: 27

Leading to disallowed goals: 56

Penalties awarded: 22 (9 missed)

Pens overturned: 7 (1 for offside)

Pens retaken: 4(1fromscored,

3 from missed)

Goals ruled out for offside: 34

Awarded after incorrect offside: 8

Ruled out for handball: 14

Allowed after wrong handball: 2

Red cards awarded: 9

Red cards overturned: 3

Laments that Financial Fair Play is

dead in the water after the Manchester

City case are way off the mark. The

Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration

for Sport overturned UEFA’s imposition

of a two-year ban on City for alleged

breaches of FFP. Neither UEFA nor

City emerged unscathed from the

93-page judgement. Questions

remained unanswered over time-

limited sponsorship cash while UEFA

badly needs to close loopholes in

its own regulations. The concept

is fine – the application needs

urgent attention.

Jordan Henderson’s election as

Footballer of the Year was well judged

by the English Football Writers’

Association. Liverpool’s captain led

by example, both on and off the pitch,

during the active season and during the

pandemic lockdown. Kevin De Bruyne,

Marcus Rashford

and Raheem

Sterling were also

serious claimants.

The Premier

League is lucky to

boast individuals

of such quality –

and three of them

England players.

all beyond the visual scope of the very
match referee.
Officials sent out by Mike Riley,
manager of Professional Game Match
Officials Limited, were hampered by not
only their own instructions but by the
laws of the game themselves.
Concern about the time taken for
a VAR decision saw them effectively
barred from using the pitchside monitor.
This meant the referee on the pitch was
undermined by a colleague sitting often
hundreds of miles away. That, in itself,
is contrary to Law Five, which states:
“The decisions of the referee
regarding facts connected with play,
including whether or not a goal is
scored and the result of the match,
are final. The decisions of the referee,
and all other match officials, must
always be respected.”
Not delegated to a video referee.
Certainly referees are ill-served by
the absurdity of the current handball
interpretation that varies between goal
area and midfield. This is an example
of the nonsense emerging from IFAB
ever since it was saddled with advisory
committees who seek to justify their
own existence by needless meddling
with the Laws of the Game.
No wonder FAs around the world
struggle to find enough referees; no
wonder confidence appeared, almost
visibly, to be draining out of some
Premier League officials as the extended
season drew to its conclusion.
Hopefully, belatedly, lessons have
been learned. It can only be good news
that, now VAR is firmly established, its
policing has been taken over by FIFA
which possesses the authority to
dictate uniformity of application.
Referees should demonstrate their
authority by using the monitors while
thicker analysis lines should reduce the
tally of “armpit offsides”. Accidental
handball will be penalised only if it
results immediately in a goal, not back
in the build-up, and goalkeepers must
be monitored on stepping off the line
at a penalty.
These amendments will not defuse
all disputes. As Collina and Busacca
have always insisted: “VAR is only a tool
to reduce the number of mistakes not
eradicate them entirely.”

Stephen TATAW(1963-2020)

Cameroon captain at Italia 90, where they became

the first African team to reach the quarter-finals.

The right-back was one

of the few Indomitable

Lions who did not go

on to join a European

club, in spite of a trial

at QPR. Instead he

went to Asia after

competing at the

1994 World Cup,

becoming the first

African to play in

Japan. Also won the

1988 Africa Cup of

Nations.

Mark Gleeson

Gabriel Ochoa URIBE(1929-2020)

The most successful coach in the history of

Colombian football, winning14 league titles – six

with Millonarios, one for Santa Fe, and seven with

America de Cali, whom he also led to three Copa

Libertadores finals in a row, yet lost all three.

Tom FORSYTH(1949-2020)

After playing more than 200 games for Motherwell,

Forsyth joined Rangers in1972 and enjoyed

tremendous success

in a decade at the

club. The centre-back

won three league titles

in Glasgow, including

two domestic trebles,

and scored the winner

against Celtic in the

1973 Scottish Cup

final. He also won 22

caps for Scotland,

appearing at the

World Cup, and earned

the nickname “Jaws” for

his aggressive style.

OBITUARIES

Hero...Hagen during his spell with Hearts at Tynecastle Park

Fallen Lion...Tataw

was a Cameroon icon

International...Forsyth made

his Scotland debut in

David HAGEN(1973-2020)

The former Rangers midfielder started his career at

Ibrox, and played in The Gers’ treble-winning season

of1992-93. He also scored the winner for Falkirk in

the1997 Scottish Challenge Cup final and had spells

at Hearts, Livingston, Clyde and Peterhead. Hagen

was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2018.