Womens' WC 2019

Does anyone think the use of VAR, as it is being used here, will ever fly on the men's side?
 
FIFA needs to figure out a way to speed up the VAR decisions. It takes far too long and interrupts the flow of the game.

Referees in hotly contested games at the youth and school level will have to get used to a lot of VAR finger-signals on close calls.
 
Does anyone think the use of VAR, as it is being used here, will ever fly on the men's side?

In defense of VAR, it work well at the Men's World Cup, particularly great in group play. Not exactly sure what's happening at WWC but I think its a combination of factors. As I understand it, VAR wasn't supposed to be used to "re-referee" the game, but that appears to be in fact what's happening. VAR was supposed to be used for "clear and obvious" situations and now it seems it is being used to make "obsure and random" decisions. Unfortunately, the VAR/reffing is the story of the the tournament and not the competition, teams or players.
 
FIFA needs to figure out a way to speed up the VAR decisions. It takes far too long and interrupts the flow of the game.
Its completely affecting the spirit of the game. So many interruptions and you can’t celebrate any goals because you know the VAR is coming. It’s almost like what’s the point of having professional referees. We could just VAR the whole game and have a whistle blower with a headset who is told when to stop the game. I’m definitely not a fan of the extent to which it’s being used in this World Cup. I’d rather have incorrect calls than all the interruptions.
 
It really seems to be hindering the game.

Keeping the flag down until a goal is scored and VAR agrees is not helping matters.

Between that and checking every single call in the area is just dragging this down and the 7 min added stoppage time isn't making it any better.

I don't see them stopping like this after almost every play when VAR has been used in other tournaments.
 
I don't see them stopping like this after almost every play when VAR has been used in other tournaments.

Partially it's a function of the instruction given to the ARs to keep the flag down which is different than some of the other tournaments (why then do we need ARs on the field?....you could just move them to the video booth if that's the way you want to run the offside calls).

Partially it's also a function of the news rules (particularly the handball and goalkeeper rules) which are also new.
 

It's interesting how the keepers in the WWC this year can be mostly grouped into 2 categories: those in command of their box and those with large gaps in their technique. That ball should have been smothered with her hands (at least that's my preference...the other technique is to hold low and block). Never feet first (at least not if in the box)....that's the kind of thing first year keepers get yelled for at their entire first year. Given the enormous pressure being placed on keepers now (such as the recent goings on with De Gea, Karius, Lloris, Neuer), 5 years from now you won't be seeing a lot of this sort of thing.
 
The Netherlands header was not very skillful, but it changed the ball direction just enough to get it away from the Italy keeper.
 
It looks like the Swedish keeper got away with planting an elbow in the German player's ear because she (or someone German) was offside.
 
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