Football
Ian Darke, ESPN.com writer 6y

Opponents of VAR are wrong and other World Cup observations

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- If you grew up anywhere west of Berlin, there is a tendency to think of Russia as a scene in a James Bond movie: vast and mysterious, with a language impenetrable to all but the smartest students. It is an offbeat setting for a World Cup.

Yet football's ability to cross divides and cultures is a thing of wonder. It warmed the heart to see the Russian people going wild on the Nevsky Prospect, St Petersburg's answer to Broadway, after the hosts had virtually assured a place in the knockout stages with a 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia.

Suddenly a nation who had seemed no more than lukewarm about the World Cup had caught football fever.


World Cup 2018 must-reads

FC Match Predictor 2018

- Make your daily picks with ESPN FC Match Predictor 2018!
- World Cup fixtures, results and coverage
- World Cup LIVE: Follow all the action daily with ESPN
- Mexico trio and Ronaldo make the ESPN team of Round 1
- Lewandowski, Mane, James and Salah and their one-man team limitations


Two Russian ladies -- perhaps after several vodkas -- even hugged me in the street, not an entirely unpleasant experience.

"Roos-ee-a ... Roos-ee-a" they chanted while fans from Mexico, Iran and Costa Rica joined the street party.

"The United Nations of Football," Iran's urbane and charming coach Carlos Queiroz called it.

He's right. Football can get to the parts the politicians can't reach. That's not to suggest the game here is without problems. Only a few months ago the Russian FA were fined £22,000 for racist chanting by fans at French players in St Petersburg. And of course, there remains the fear that at some point the Russian hooligans who so blemished Euro 2016 will resurface here.

But so far, so good.

Not least the referees, who are performing with aplomb and clarity after their extensive training. While the controversial Video Assistant Referee will never end debates completely, it is largely delivering justice.

Imagine if it had been around in 1986, when Diego Maradona would have found the "Hand of God" actually belonged to a bloke catching him red-handed on a screen in Mexico City. Likewise, a voice in the ear would have told a hapless referee that he had to award a red card (not a goal kick) when West Germany's Harald Schumacher wiped out Patrick Battiston of France in 1982, leaving him needing hospital treatment.

Are opponents of VAR really trying to argue that the game is better with scandalous decisions like that allowed to stand?

The reality is VAR is here to stay and, for this observer at least, amen to that. In fact, the English Premier League next season is going to look behind the times in failing to use it.

For us in the media, the travel and preparation makes it a tough gig at times, though no sympathy will be either given or expected.

I did, however, feel sorry for the BBC's excellent Ian Dennis, who has been battling a sore throat, a commentators nightmare on the biggest stage. His co-commentator, ex-twinkle-toed Chelsea winger Pat Nevin, has been advising a medicine based on Scotch whisky. That's almost worth getting ill for.

Meanwhile, I discovered not everything has changed since the old Soviet Union became Russia. A lost document meant a three hour wild-goose chase around various offices in St Petersburg, where unsmiling officials seemed blissfully unaware that any special assistance should be extended to World Cup guests.

But that is a blip. Elsewhere, the welcome has been genuinely warm.

^ Back to Top ^