WWC Day Two - Is this going to be another penalty and VAR-obsessed World Cup?
VAR has been busy already
Day two of the Women’s World Cup may have lacked a bit of quality in some of the games but it definitely delivered on the drama. In just two days we’ve seen five penalties awarded (that’s one in every match so far) and just two of them scored.
The first match of the day between Nigeria-Canada (at 3.30 am UK, shout out those of you that watched this in the early hours), was absolutely not a classic. Canada are a low risk, defensive team that lack much impetus going forward and they were facing a Nigeria side ready to dig deep, sit in and try and hit them on the break. Nigeria’s plan went pretty perfectly until Francisca Ordega gave away a penalty for a challenge on Christine Sinclair. Now, I thought this was harsh. There does seem to be some contact on Sinclair’s foot but in my opinion it’s not enough for a penalty and Sinclair flies over in order to win it. This game had so many bad challenges in it, there were legs and bodies flying. Ashley Lawrence survived two awful tackles, the second of which saw Deborah Ajibola Abiodun sent off. The referee was struggling to stamp authority on this game to turn it from a slug fest with endless stoppages into something more flowing, a lot of that is down to the teams themselves.
The 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup was infamous for being overwhelmed by VAR. There was the policing of goalkeepers on the line for penalties, which then was relaxed a bit after the tournament, there were endless offside rewinds and some pretty dodgy calls throughout, as lots of officials didn’t quite know how to use the system.
This World Cup has already had loads of VAR action, the on-field calls are being used for the first time too. I have enjoyed the NFL-style officiating on pitch, I know it’s been a bit marmite for others watching. It is a bit silly as the hand signals should really be enough but why not bring an extra level of detail.
Just a few hours later, there was yet another penalty awarded this time in the Switzerland game. Another harsh one for me, as Coumba Sow slid down and Isabella Flanigan tried to clear the ball. Ramona Bachmann, a penalty god, scored the resulting spot kick.
Then there was yet another penalty in the final game of the day, this time Jenni Hermoso’s kick was saved by Costa Rican goalkeeper Daniela Solera. In the end it didn’t matter as Spain won the game 3-0 anyway.
But we’re already well on our way to seeing this Women’s World Cup break the record for the most spot kicks in a tournament and maybe the most missed too. More VAR, more penalties and obviously more opportunities for players to miss.
2015 Women’s World Cup (no VAR)
Total number of penalty kicks awarded: 22
Total number of penalty kicks scored: 18
2019 Women’s World Cup (first with VAR)
Total number of penalty kicks awarded: 25
Total number of penalty kicks scored: 18
One thing is for sure, this tournament is going to be stressful for football fans. If there’s action in the box there’s a very high chance you’re going to see a penalty.
So on that note, on to England-Haiti tomorrow!