The German Football Association and Major League Soccer each began implementing the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system over the weekend so that officials on the field would have the ability to consult with officials with access to video replay regarding match-changing decisions.
In Germany’s debut of the VAR, a key part of the technology was temporarily unavailable during an important moment in Saturday’s DFL-Supercup final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
“The calibrated line, which is usually there to help with offside decisions, wasn’t available in the first half due to technical problems,” the DFL and DFB explained together in a joint statement.
There just so happened to be a goal Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski scored in the first half that could have used that calibrated line. Joshua Kimmich set up the goal, and it was difficult to see whether or not he was off-sides. Ultimately, the goal stood, and Bayern Munich went on to win on penalty kicks. According to the league, it was proven after the fact that the correct call had been made.
“After looking at all available camera angles, including stills, video assistant Tobias Stieler decided that Kimmich was onside and so no correction or intervention was required.”
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Added Hellmut Krug, the DFB chief director in refereeing, commenting to DBF.de: “Even when decisions are discussed a little in public, what matters in the end is that all the decisions were the correct ones. It was also right not to signal for offside on the goal which made it 1-1. Kimmich wasn’t, even though it was very close, in an offside position. Therefore, VAR didn’t intervene in this instance.
“Unfortunately, the corresponding TV pictures could only be shown after the game and show therefore that the decisions were correct. In pre-season, we alluded to the fact we could face small problems in the early stage of VAR use. We’re optimistic and will do everything to make sure that all problems have been rectified by the start of the Bundesliga on the 18th of August and that everything works flawlessly on the first matchday. Nevertheless, as the technology’s debut has shown, there will still be apprehension and discussion surrounding correct referee decisions.”
MLS also had its first official use of VAR on Saturday during a match between the Philadelphia Union and FC Dallas. After FC Dallas appeared to score on a goal from Maxi Urruti, the VAR system ultimately overturned the goal due to a missed foul where Union goalkeeper John McCarthy had gotten kicked.