Over the weekend Chivas were basically hosed by ref Cesar Arturo Ramos in their game against Toluca. The referee along with the VAR officials decided to call back a penalty that Ramos had awarded to Chivas on the field. Minutes later VAR apparently never got the TV shot that proved Chicote Calderon was not offside on a magical shot from outside the box that he put away in the top corner.
In their midweek matchup against Tijuana, though, Chivas got some help from officials after a clear handball that should’ve resulted in a last minute penalty for Tijuana to potentially tie the game wasn’t called even after the referee looked at the play on the monitor. Chivas could look at the situation and say that the interactions that they had with VAR over their 2 games this week was more or less positive.
They picked up 4 points which is essentially what they could’ve had anyway, but with the scores flipped. We’ve seen other teams have issues with VAR as well. Carlos Salcedo from Juarez FC is tweeting mid-game about the refs because he thinks his team is constantly on the wrong end of their decisions. Missed calls have always been part of the game. Should teams be concerned about the disaster that is Liga MX’s VAR?
What’s The Real Issue With Liga MX Referees?
Mainstream media is never going to get into an argument about refs fixing games. No one ever wants to talk about something like this without proof. Truth be told there are certain plays where VAR has intervened, and the ruling has been controversial. Yet, you could make an argument for the call that was made on the field. The problem with a call like the one that went in favor of Chivas on Wednesday is that you can’t defend it.
If you’re a professional referee, and you get a chance to watch a video in slow motion of a play where a player clearly stretches out his arm and hits the ball, thanks to this he is able to control the ball to make a clearance, and you see no foul there, you are terrible at your job! There’s really no way around that.
The controversial play that Salcedo got all riled up about in the Juarez FC game for example, was a call on the field where the ref, by rule, couldn’t go to VAR. Yellow card plays called on the field are not looked at by VAR unless that yellow should be a direct red! From the refs’ vantage point, in that play on the field it probably did look like a hard foul. In plays like the last minute handball with Chivas vs Tijuana, this person can’t ref another game in his life. He’s either terrible at his job or there’s foul play there’s no in between. What’s worse is that his work up to that play was actually decent.
