The World Cup has witnessed a plethora of VAR controversies over the past week, leaving fans bewildered and questioning the technology's reliability. A closer examination of the statistics reveals that the high bar set for clear and obvious errors is partly to blame for the inconsistencies.
According to a recent analysis, the World Cup's VAR intervention rate (0.28 per game) is comparable to the Premier League's (0.29 per game). However, the subjective interventions per match (0.17) are slightly higher than those in the Premier League (0.15). This suggests that the VAR officials are being more cautious in their decisions, which may be contributing to the inconsistencies.
Pierluigi Collina, Fifa's head of referees, has acknowledged that football is a contact sport and that not all contact is a foul. He wants to see free-flowing games at a higher tempo, but this approach may make it more challenging for the VAR officials to consistently apply the high bar set for clear and obvious errors.
Other competitions, such as the Champions League, have a lower bar for VAR, which results in more interventions. This can create a sense of consistency, but it may not necessarily mean that VAR is being used as originally intended, for the real howlers. The UEFA Champions League, for instance, has a significantly higher intervention rate (0.47 per game) and monitor visits per match (0.36) compared to the World Cup.
The recent controversies surrounding VAR decisions have sparked debate among experts and fans. Former World Cup assistant referee Darren Cann said on MOTD, "There is a little contact before the ball is played, but I don't really feel that it's a foul." Meanwhile, Joe Hart expressed his disappointment with the decision not to review a high boot challenge in Germany's loss to Ecuador, saying, "Every single player watching this World Cup right now would have seen this incident and said immediately, that's endangering an opponent, that's a high boot, that's a foul."