Who knows, in another era (last year) or perhaps just another league (most likely La Liga), the referee somehow gets it in his head that Cologne’s Jhon Cordoba has committed a serious foul play here and red cards him. I mean, how else could you explain rugged Hamburg center back Kyriakos Papadopoulos screaming and rolling around like this? Obviously Cordoba has done something unspeakable, so send him off.
After FIFA’s strangely inept trials of the Video Assistant Referee system at both the 2016 Club World Cup and 2017 Confederations Cup, it looks as though Germany will once again prove to be an ever-reliable fountainhead for efficiency and mastery, now with regards to using replay technology in football.
VAR decisions have been overly long, miscommunicated and occasionally downright baffling, but before the start of the new Bundesliga season, the German DFB made it clear that they didn't envision these issues plaguing their own use of the system.
Like Winston Churchill in the face of endless hordes of German bombers, Gorilla is England’s great hope against three German competitors in semifinals of the FIFA Interactive World Cup, which was apparently trying to reenact the Battle of Britain on Thursday in London.
Despite a disconnection in the first leg of the Xbox One division final, Gorilla took a stunning 6-0 lead into Friday’s second leg against CodyDerFinisher of Germany. In the PlayStation 4 final, Deto leads TimoX 1-0 after the first leg in an all-German affair.
We’ve come to understand that VAR is going to get weird. There are going to be suspensions of play that feel strange, there are going to be offenses that are bizarrely non-reviewable, there are going to be goals disallowed for offenses in the buildup that’ll feel mysteriously idiosyncratic. It all comes with the power of time travel.
But the one surreal use of VAR we never expected would be the one ending with the brandishing of a straight red card to the wholesome Kaka, which happened on Saturday. This wasn’t your classic sending off — it was weird as s**t.
It’s finally August, which means the 2017-18 season is upon us. Ligue 1 begins Friday, the German Super Cup is Saturday and England’s Community Shield is Sunday. But as a new campaign begins, another cycle is coming to a close. The inaugural FIFA Interactive Club World Cup will be held in London on Saturday followed by the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2017 Grand Final on Aug. 16-18 to crown the world champion for EA Sports’ FIFA 17.
It’s easy to say now, sure. Now that his trophies are won, his legacy cemented, Diego Maradona has no problem supporting VAR. Video Assistant Referees can’t review his past indiscretions.
In an attempt to curry favor for its VAR system, FIFA posted an interview with Maradona and his views on VAR. Unsurprisingly, he's in favor of VAR.
They don’t get the credit the footballers do for their performance each game, but referees have to be just as prepared physically and mentally as those players they’re chasing all around the field.
It’s a varied and strenuous training process. The best refs have to be fitter than a world-class midfielder, have to possess an acute awareness for the type of teams, players and tactics they’ll be observing, and they need to be ready to handle all that might be thrown at them psychologically when it comes to high stakes and other maddening elements.
With preseason underway across the Premier League, you're going to see a lot of photos of players training with their now accustomary black vests on. A few years ago, these garments were an absolute rarity, and, apart from some sophomoric comments about male players wearing sports bras (how dare you), it was generally assumed that they measured heart rate and yada yada yada.