Vietnamese football cannot lose forever because…VAR

Video assistant referee (VAR) technology has become increasingly familiar in continental tournaments. Especially the youth playground, when the 2024 U23 Asian Championship will apply VAR for the second time.

And sadly, Vietnamese football once again failed because of VAR after unnecessary and familiar fouls in the domestic playground.

The latest is the 0-1 defeat of U23 Vietnam against U23 Iraq in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Asian U23 Championship in the early morning of April 27 (Vietnam time). After a first half full of effort, coach Hoang Anh Tuan’s team lost in the second half from a penalty kick and a red card after the referee consulted VAR.

VAR obsession

Goalkeeper Quan Van Chuan cleared the ball 1 beat slower than his opponent, so he grabbed striker Nihad Mohammed in the 60th minute.

Quan Van Chuan bypassed referee Ko Hyung Jin but could not escape the VAR room referees. As a result, Vietnam U23 team lost 11 meters, leading to the only loss of the match.

And yet, midfielder Manh Hung, when trying to get the ball from Ali Jasim near the corner flag, “trickily” stepped on his opponent’s ankle with his shoe. Referee Ko Hyung Jin, after reviewing VAR, issued a red card and directly disqualified Manh Hung in the 90+2 minute.

This is not the first time at the tournament that the U23 Vietnam team received a penalty card and was given a penalty kick after the referee consulted VAR.

In the opening match against U23 Kuwait 3-1, midfielder Ngoc Thang pulled himself very hard in the penalty area. Initially, referee Ali Athba Al Marri only issued a yellow card. But after consulting VAR, he changed his decision by replacing the yellow card with a red card.

Losing to U23 Uzbekistan 0-3 in the final round of the group stage, midfielder Duc Viet also received a yellow card after the referee consulted VAR in case he jerked his elbow at the opponent.

Referees in the V-League must be strong

Talking about Ngoc Thang’s red card after the opening match, coach Hoang Anh Tuan said that the nature of the problem must be resolved at the club – the place where players are trained.

“Three days before the tournament, instructors and referee supervisors from FIFA and AFC came to teach the rules and present similar situations.

This is a habit, not a mistake. There is a referee to guide but still making mistakes, this is a habit, a lack of training from the club,” Mr. Tuan said.

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan then also thoroughly explained to his players about VAR to prepare for the next matches. But in the end, everything did not change when the “extra arm” error, playing tricksy football became a hard-to-break habit in competition for Vietnamese players.

Even the Vietnamese team has received a series of penalty kicks and penalty cards over the past 2 years after the referee reviewed VAR. And many Vietnamese players have been “punished” by the referee for their bad habits in competition.

The most recent was the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar at the beginning of the year, the Vietnamese team also received 2 goals from 3 penalties (1 Iraqi shot was unsuccessful) and 2 red cards in just 3 group stage matches after the referee intervened. Refer to VAR.

VAR has officially operated in V-League 2023-2024 but in reality it still cannot help Vietnamese players play football more actively. This is because in each round, only 2-4 matches from Ha Tinh to the North are applied VAR, while from Nghe An to the South is the “white area”.

When VAR cannot yet cover all V-League matches to help players change bad habits, referees clearly need to be more forceful.

Because otherwise, Vietnamese football will continue to “suffer” for a long time because of VAR when it comes to the continental playing field.