Russian coach prepared for Egypt, with or without Mo Salah in lineup ... Officials blew it in Brazil match, and you can blame deference to VAR
SAINT PETERSBURG — Russian coach Stanislav
Cherchesov is an imposing figure, whose tough-talking approach didn’t go unnoticed as his side prepared to face Egypt on Tuesday in Saint Petersburg.
The hosts enter Matchday 2 in Group A knowing a win will see them through to the Round of 16. The Pharaohs, meanwhile, likely need to win with or without their top player, Mo Salah.
“We study every team and every team has players you have to pay special attention to,” Cherchesov said. “Of course, Mo Salah is the strongest player in the team. We understand this. We are not playing against one player.
“We understand how to do this. Tomorrow you will see this.”
The Russians know a draw ultimately could be enough to see them through to the next phase of the competition.
“We are ready to face any option,” Cherchesov reiterated. “We’ll see if Mo Salah will be playing. The level he’ll be playing at, only he and his coach know. But we have our own mission. We will accomplish the mission.”
WILL SALAH PLAY?
They were likely just mind games, but Egypt bench boss
Hector Cuper didn’t seem to know if the Liverpool star will be available for Tuesday’s meeting with Russia.
“In the previous match against Uruguay we thought he was fit, but we always carry out a last physical test before we draw up the lineup and today we’ll have an important test for him to see how he does,” Cuper said.
“I hope that he’ll be fully fit to play. I’m sure that he will be able to play. He’s an essential piece in our team.”
Cuper sounds “sure” but not sure, doesn’t he?
Either way, his counterpart claimed Russia knows Egypt’s tendencies.
“Well, I guess each coach has his or her strategy,” Cuper said in response to Cherchesov. “They prepare according to that philosophy.
“I think it’s great if they’re only focusing on Salah. I think he’s obviously an important player, a crucial player.”
Salah hasn’t featured since suffering a shoulder injury during the Champions League final.
HOW UNFAIR
It it was “clear,” how did five officials miss it? The Brazilians got screwed Sunday night when Mexican referee Cesar Ramos refused to blow his whistle.
They got screwed a second time when four video assistant referees didn’t see anything “clear or obviously” wrong with Ramos’ original decision.
Brazilian coach Titi andI are in agreement: The referees finally blew a match at this World Cup by not blowing multiple clear infringements.
Replays showed Switzerland’s Steven Zuber clearly shove Brazilian defender Miranda before connecting with his gametying header.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Brazil’s Gabriel
Jesus was more or less tackled — and not soccer “tackled” — inside the penalty area with a quarterhour remaining.
Ramos either didn’t bother reviewing either decision or wasn’t advised to by the gaggle of VARs in every video room.
Either way, it was by far the worst refereeing display at this tournament.
“I’m just going to say this once: The Miranda moment was very clear … It’s a very clear play. It’s very clear,” Titi repeated following the 1-1 draw. “There are people responsible for that to work within fairness. You have to be fair.”
Swiss coach Vladimir
Petkovic didn’t see anything wrong with the equalizer.
“A regular duel,” he described the play. “I think the opponent’s defence weren’t well positioned.”
The VARs were. And they still made a mess of this game.
GOOD OR BAD?
Video review isn’t just changing the way this sport is refereed. It’s changing officials’ decision-making.
Referees at this World Cup are swallowing their whistles and waiting to see if VAR helpers will advise them to review something.
The issue with that, of course, is VARs won’t page referees to review a decision unless a “clear and obvious” mistake is identified.
That’s an extremely high threshold to overturn an initial decision, meaning likely (but not “clear”) penalties are being denied teams that probably deserve them.
We’ve seen both Brazil and Argentina denied penalties at this tournament because referees are deferring to video assistants to make calls for them.
“It’s an interesting point and something we thought might happen,” ex-World Cup referee Howard Webb told the Sun last week. “We were very keen to tell officials from the start that this is an additional tool that exists to assist them to avoid making clear errors.
“(We said), ‘Don’t think about the existence of the VAR. Referee the game normally. Make your call.’ You have to make a call. The job of the VAR is to decide if that call is a clear and obvious error.”
Through less than one full round of Matchday 1 fixtures, World Cup officials have utilized the video review process to award penalties.
That tells me referees are hesitant to award them in the first place.
“You don’t want referees to change the way the game is officiated,” Webb added. “You want them to do the same job … We keep pushing that message on all the time.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Former Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder
Christian Bolanos became the first Costa Rican to play in three World Cups … Serbia ended Costa Rica’s five-game World Cup unbeaten run … Former New York Red Bulls Designated Player Rafa
Marquez (MEX) became the third player to play at five World Cups, joining fellow Mexican Antonio Carbajal and Germany’s Lothar
Matthaus … Germany was the sixth defending champion to lose its first match at a World Cup … Brazil has conceded 11 goals in its previous three World Cup games, matching the total it allowed in its 18 matches prior … Panama started eight current or former MLSers in its 2-0 loss to Belgium.