15 days passed. And, apparently, the football regulations changed radically, without even the footballers having had time to find out.
The first occurred in the match between Colombia and Argentina for the Qatar 2022 Qualifiers, on June 8. That day the result was a 2-2 draw, but that’s not the important thing. The key is that in that game, the referee Roberto Tobar faced a situation identical to the one that Nestor Pitana interpreted in a way, at least controversial.
It happened in the Colombian area, when Argentina approached and the rebound hit the aforementioned judge. At that moment, Colombia was preparing a counterattack that could be lethal, but since the ball touched a member of the refereeing team (the central judge) and the regulations say that it is a reason to stop the game, the decision was a dropped ball, that without the need for VAR, the Chilean referee decided.
This was the play:
It is worth saying that in this play, the only different thing is that before the rebound in the referee’s body, the possession belonged to Argentina and then it changed to Colombia. But Tobar did not make the move to stop, did not put the whistle to his mouth in vain, did not give erratic signals: he whistled with confidence and never consulted any VAR because he knew the regulations. Nobody was confused and when Messi went to protest, he quickly explained the rule and that’s it.
In the play this Wednesday, with Pitana, the opposite happened: he gave signs of intending to stop the play, he confused the players, he consulted the VAR to find out if he changed possession, which suggests that he had not even seen The play was good, and more than ten minutes were spent on deliberations. All wrong.
Did the rule change in just 15 days? Obviously not. As the saying goes, everything seems to indicate that the problem “was an Indian and not an arrow.”
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