Switzerland were awarded a penalty during their World Cup Group B clash against Qatar which left an ITV commentator confused
An ITV’s commentator was left confused by a VAR decision during the World Cup match between Qatar and Switzerland. The Group B clash was taking place on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco, but there was a controversial decision in the first half.
Switzerland were awarded a penalty in the 14th minute after Qatar goalkeeper Mahmud Abunada fouled Remo Freuler when trying to get the ball.
Breel Embolo stepped up to score the penalty, but there was controversy in the build-up with suggestions that Freuler was in an offside position before being fouled by Abunada.
ITV commentator Lee Dixon explained why he thought the decision to award a penalty would be overturned.
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“There’s no doubt about it being a penalty, my arm did go up for the offside,” Dixon said on ITV’s coverage from San Francisco.
“For the run, just there, he’s offside. This won’t count. He just wandered off. The referee can’t see that so points to the spot.”
After the final decision of penalty was confirmed, Dixon went on to say: “There must be something wrong with my monitor,” before going on to state his belief that Freuler was offside.
Former referee Christina Unkel went on to explain why the correct decision was made and stated there were no issues with VAR during the penalty check.
“There is not a tolerance built into the system necessarily,” Unkel said on ITV. “However, the technology that’s been implemented in this World Cup is at a higher level so it’s going to be even sharper and crisper.
“You are not too far off, it did look like it was offside from our scenario here too, but the technology is so advanced, it’s going to be able to tell very accurately to the centimetre.
“So this is a very tight offside, but the technology checked on both, there were two offside interactions.”
Switzerland and Qatar both went into the game looking to secure all three points and climb to the top of the Group B standings.
Fellow group stage opponents Canada and Bosnia & Herzegovina were held to a 1-1 draw on Friday, with the co-hosts forced to settle for a point in Toronto.