FIFA issued clarification after being slammed from all corners following a massive VAR controversy during the Switzerland vs Qatar contest on Saturday. Switzerland were awarded a penalty after Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada appeared to bring down Remo Freuler. After a VAR review, the original decision of the penalty was upheld, but it seemed that Mahmoud was offside. Switzerland took an early lead in the 17th minute after Breel Embolo converted the penalty.
The fans tore into FIFA as the replays of the offside were not shown. Even former England star Gary Neville called out the FIFA for the bizarre mistake.
“Offside. We all think it here that it was offside. Everybody at home thinks it. Fifa are the host broadcaster, and they have the semi-automatic decision that they can show us,” mirror.co.uk quoted Neville as saying.
“Why are they not showing us? They did this in the last tournament. Fans are already distrustful of FIFA and technology to start with. There is a massive question over that because it is offside in my eyes until they prove me different,” he added.
‘It’s Like A Dictator’: Gary Neville On FIFA Not Showing Offside Replay
He said that fans deserve to see all replays of decisions, especially in a World Cup where tight margins define results, adding that not doing so seems like ‘dictatorship’.
“It’s like a dictator. Honestly, it’s like a dictatorship, this. The idea that they hold this evidence internally and don’t show fans of countries that are playing in tournaments. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Neville.
“Honestly, to not show the evidence of an offside. Prove to us it’s offside. Show it straight away. Why not the transparency?” he added.
Neville’s colleague Ian Wright echoed similar sentiments and dubbed the incident a “scandal.” “With the semi-automatic line, why haven’t we seen that? We actually don’t need to see it, we see it in the Premier League every week, he looks offside, I just don’t understand it. They do what they want; they’re sitting in the office. It’s a scandal,” said Wright.
FIFA’s Clarification
Following the controversy, FIFA issued a clarification and revealed that the technology providing VAR offside went down before the goal.
“During the Qatar vs. Switzerland match in the San Francisco Bay Area, a brief technical outage prevented the onside animation graphic from being generated ahead of the penalty awarded to Switzerland in the 14th minute. The issue was quickly resolved,” FIFA stated.
“The workflow of the VAR was not affected by this issue and followed the normal procedure in checking the on-field decision. The lines used by the VAR to check the position of the relevant players did not show the attacking player to be in an offside position in either of the two situations immediately before the penalty decision,” the body added.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s late fightback meant that Switzerland had to content with a 1-1 draw as both teams shared points after the final whistle.
