VAR and amateur referees were the talking point in tonight’s match as Portugal held on, despite farcical decisions from the referee to progress to the last 16 stage of the tournament. Portugal had a one-goal lead through a wonder strike from Ricardo Quaresma who struck with the outside of his boot from the edge of the area to curl the ball past the goalkeeper into the top corner of the net. The Portuguese were the better side which justified their lead going into the second half.
After the break, it was Ronaldo’s moment as he bamboozled a few Iranian defenders on the edge of the box and drew a foul from them. He drew a foul inside the box and was correctly awarded a penalty after the VAR review. The referee, however, started his erroneous decisions in letting Iran keeper Beiranvand stand behind his goal line before the kick and jumped ahead of the line to save Ronaldo’s spot kick. It meant Ronaldo remains one goal behind Harry Kane who is currently leading the race for the Golden Boot. However, Portugal dominated possession, but then the faulty decisions started from the referee when late into the dying moments of the match, Sardar Azmoun of Iran knocked down a ball with his head, which hit Cedric Soares in the arm. No one appealed but the amateur referee Enrique Cáceres went for the VAR and unbelievably pointed to the spot! VAR is useful but also depends on who is seeking the help of the VAR. Iran scored from the penalty and soon afterwards Iran found a deflected shot in the box and had a clear shot at goal but failed to convert. Had he scored, Iran would have gone through, thanks to some amateurish decision from the referee. The referee consulted VAR to turn a spectacle of a match into a laughable one. However, not much damage was done as Portugal still managed to hold on and qualify into the last 16, although they will be facing Uruguay instead of Russia in the last 16.
