World Cup 2018: VAR decisions will be explained to fans in Russia

VIDEO referee experts are confident the maligned system will stand up on the grandest stage, amid fears a car-crash may unfold in Russia.

VIDEO referee experts are confident the maligned system will stand up on the grandest stage, amid fears a car-crash may unfold in Russia.

Back-up systems have been installed for the World Cup after a FIFA investigation into the A-League grand final fiasco when the Hawkeye technology froze, leaving officials unable to review Melbourne Victory’s winning goal, which appeared offside.

With many referee-Video Assistant Referee (VAR) combinations working together for the first time in Russia, from a variety of countries, concerns have privately been raised about the swiftness of Russia 2018 decisions.

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The 13 VAR officials, from 10 nations, have joined the 36 World Cup referees and 63 assistants are in Moscow doing their final preparatory seminar including intensive VAR training.

International Football Association Board (IFAB) – the international rules committee – are not directly involved with the World Cup, but ran the two-year VAR experiment.

IFAB secretary Lukas Brud said poor knowledge of the rules was an issue, but unfortunate incidents such as the A-League grand final have been rectified.

The video referee is used during the Confederations Cup match between Australia and Germany in Sochi last year.

“The referees very often take the right decision with the VAR. The problem is that many people don’t understand that decision because they do not know specifically the laws of the game,’’ Brud said.

“Which is why FIFA is putting in place a messaging system in the stadiums so you can see on the big screen what has happened and what VAR has helped the referee with.

“I’m not saying the systems are flawless. But I’m personally not too concerned. There will be debate, we have to be ready for it. I believe FIFA will communicate it – when you explain an incident people are normally satisfied.

The VAR system broke during the A-League grand final and missed three Melbourne Victory players being offside for their goal against Newcastle Jets.

“The Australian situation, because of the importance of the match, was probably the most tragic one in a way, the most influential error that happened in the VAR process.

“It was a unique case – we haven’t had that before, anywhere in 1500 matches.

This incident triggered some investigation within FIFA for the tournament because they’re using the same provider (Hawkeye), to try and find a counter-measure.”

A-League VAR panel member Strebre Delovski is not working in Russia, but was confident it would work, citing Diego Maradona’s ‘hand of God’ goal or Thierry Henry’s blatant 2010 playoff handball as incidents they want overturned.

“I’m sure they’ve learnt from (the A-League incident). They have put backup steps in place if the technology fails,’’ Delovski said.

“They only want VAR to get involved when we’re talking about the Thierry Henry handball and Diego Maradona’s handball.

“I don’t see many differences there because all the countries follow the same protocol. It won’t be anything different from the A-League to the World Cup re process.”

Socceroo and ex-Melbourne Victory player Mark Milligan has had triple exposure to the VAR and was confident it would be a success in Russia.

“It was an absolute disaster in the A-League. At the Confederations Cup it worked quite well,’’ Milligan said.

“We only played one Cup game with it (in Saudi Arabia) and it decided the match. But it was the right call. As long as the decisions are made quick and the right people are upstairs, which I have no doubt (will happen), I think they’ll get it working well at the World Cup.”