The Controversial VAR Decision in Uruguay’s Match Against Ecuador: A Review

The review of the VAR in the penalty that Uruguay was not charged against Ecuador

One of the most controversial plays on the second day of the Conmebol Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup took place during Ecuador’s 2-1 victory over Uruguay at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado Stadium in Quito. In the 97th minute, there was a collision between goalkeeper Hernán Galíndez and Facundo Torres that was not considered a penalty by Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio and his VAR collaborators.

The body that regulates South American football has published the audios that bring to light Sampaio’s criteria for not sanctioning a foul by Galíndez on Torres, who had appeared unmarked at the far post after a free kick taken by Fede Valverde.

According to what Conmebol stated, the play was analyzed from different angles and they came to the conclusion that the Tri goalkeeper went to block the ball and immediately generated “normal game contact” with the Uruguayan striker. Then comes Facundo Pellistri’s foul on Kevin Rodríguez that was quickly called on the field of play.

“Possible offside, possible penalty,” says Daniel Nobre, the judge in charge of the VAR, in principle. “Foul marked on the field,” added Igor Benevenuto, his assistant in the cabin. “He defended after falling,” Nobre answers, already referring to Galindez’s clearance that ends in a collision with the Uruguayan attacker.

“The goalkeeper defends the ball and then bumps his arms into his face. The goalkeeper defends and then accidentally collides with his arm. For me it is totally accidental. The goalkeeper defends and then his arm hits the defender,” analyzed Daniel Nobre. His partner Igor Benevenuto accompanies the concept with another sentence: “He has no way of seeing, he defends and then crashes.”

Ecuador beat Uruguay 2-1 at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium in Quito (EFE)

As the play continued, Wilton Sampaio took a foul in favor of Ecuador. “And they foul him afterwards, perfect,” they add from the VAR in reference to Pellistri’s charge against Rodríguez. The Brazilian referees were in agreement throughout the review.

“It is checked. Goalkeeper’s ball, goalkeeper defends the ball and through that movement, he collides with the faces of the attacking player who headed the ball. Accidentally, totally accidentally,” his collaborators explain to Sampaio.

It was an action that generated all kinds of reactions and opinions on social networks. One of the most notable was that of Luis Suárez, idol of the Uruguayan team, who used his Twitter account to comment on the incident.

Luis Suárez protested on social networks about the last play against Ecuador.

El Pistolero published a video of Hernán Galíndez’s hit on Facundo Torres and limited himself to leaving a short but blunt message. “Incredible,” wrote the scorer, who accompanied it with an emoji with a face covering its mouth.

Marcelo Bielsa, coach of the Celeste, spoke about the play in the press conference after the game: “These are complaints for seeing a play in a more favorable way for us, than the referee’s decision. They are things without significance. The referee is right and wrong. He did not harm us. I don’t see that the referee had any weight that would unbalance and influence the result. What is true, since we were a goal difference, there are some plays that we claim. It is a natural product of the fact that the game was going away and the tie did not come.”

Another who followed the same line as El Loco was Fede Valverde, one of the representatives of the Uruguayan national team, who claimed that he was far from the play and preferred not to give his opinion. “I haven’t seen anything, but I threw the center, then what happens is the referee’s decision if it is right or wrong, I will never talk about the referees, there are many referees to watch the play. I am sad about the result. In the end they are plays, at the end of the first half we went behind for not looking at the scoreboard and in the second half (it happened to us) for not marking well in the corner. “They are our mistakes and that is what sucks the most,” he commented.

2023-09-13 11:58:16
#audio #VAR #controversy #penalty #Uruguay #claimed #play #Ecuador