In Europe they also question the VAR: the unification of the criteria is a chimera for video assistance in football

The solution to all the problems or calamity that has come to destroy the noble football. This is how the extremists define the arbitration video assistance system from one trench to another. The much talked about VAR. Each Lega Professionisti date offers a section for discussions on the use of this tool (yes, that’s it: a tool). However, unlike the pen, the collective or the dulce de leche, these discussions are not an Argentine invention.

The First Division of Spanish football is preparing to start its fifth season next weekend from the implementation of the VAR. And even there, controversies are common currency, although they don’t usually end up with footballers arrested after confronting police officers, as happened at the All Boys stadium after the match between Barracas Central and Patronato. The reason is the same: the decisions that the referees make after consulting the system managers or the review on the screen placed at the edge of the playing field.

The lack of uniform criteria is one of the difficulties, not only here, but also across the Atlantic Ocean. Here’s how they rated three referees who work in the Spanish league and who accepted a relaxed conversation with a reporter from the Marca newspaper during the pre-season they are taking place at the Parador del Real Sitio de la Granja de San Ildefonso, in the province of Segovia. A fairly rare practice on both shores.

“It will be the fifth season with the VAR and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us to focus our goals and meet the criteria.”secured in that dialogue Ignazio Iglesias Villanuevaretired from arbitration three years ago and since then in charge of the video assistance system in league matches.

Along the same lines, it has been stated Carlos Del Cerro Grande, who is about to start his 12th season as a referee in the Spanish league and also belongs to the UEFA Elite category (the maximum allowed by the parent company of European football). He explained that during this preseason, in which 40 referees, 84 assistants and 11 VAR managersparticularly worked “Technical sessions to try to find a unification of the criteria that makes decisions as unanimous as possible”.

Despite the fact that FIFA has made it clear in the protocol for the use of the VAR that “Accuracy is more important than speed”one of the reasons for the tension of players, coaches, fans and journalists, regardless of the final decision regarding the game in question, is the time it takes in some cases to review a maneuver.

Alexander Hernandez Hernandezwho for a decade has directed matches in the highest category of Spanish football, stressed that “little by little” review times are decreasing, but has given priority to correction over haste. “You have to see all the cameras until one confirms the inconsistency. Sometimes it is better to invest some time to make the right decision rather than rushing, making mistakes and not being right in the decision “he has declared.

“In two or three moments the tension rises a lot because downstairs they are waiting for our confirmation of whatever it is and there are also thousands of people at home waiting impatiently to see what happens”, recognized Iglesias Villanueva, who was promoted by FIFA to the category of international VAR referee in December. Either way, this man accustomed to the pressure generated by the observation booth agreed that haste shouldn’t be the determining factor in making a decision.

The implementation of the video assistance system has also sparked speculation in this regard the alleged annoyance that an arbiter would generate when the head of the VAR reports a possible errorsomething that Hernández Hernández considered “An absurd myth”. “What we are looking for is to make the right and most accurate decision. If making the right decision involves a colleague calling you or having to call a colleague, it’s done with no fuss. What we want is that if we have made a mistake, the partner calls us to be able to rectify ”, she justified her.

Del Cerro Grande, one of the two Spanish referees who directed the European Championship that was played last year, also underlined the contribution of the members of the video team. “When you are an arbiter, you develop the ability to abstract yourself from your entire external environment. When you go to the screen, you just have to listen to the colleague who is helping you and be able to see the images, ”he pointed out.

Hernández Hernández, who has been designated by FIFA as one of the 24 managers of the video assistance system who will carry out functions in the Qatar 2022 World Cup, left a reflection for those accustomed to being indignant at the work of the refereeing bodies: “The VAR may seem simple when you are at home drinking a soda or a beer, but making decisions is not easy. Arbitration and rules are not mathematics, there are many things to interpret. It is valid for Spain. And it’s valid for Argentina.