The second round of the DFB Cup was a promotional event for the VAR: There were many blatantly wrong decisions, some with serious consequences. But the technology will only be used again from the round of 16 onwards. Why actually?
The 36th minute on Wednesday evening in Cologne was, that much was clear to every viewer, fodder for the argument to use the video assistant where it could be used. It was a free-to-air top game in this competition with many millions of viewers. And they all saw how FC was clearly disadvantaged.
With a 1-0 lead, Cologne conceded an equalizer from Luis Diaz, who had previously been offside when Josip Stanisic shot on goal; it was nowhere near the same level. According to the rules, the high-five of the ball by Cologne keeper Ron-Robert Zieler did not initiate a new game situation; Luis Diaz then actively intervened in the action – so the hit was irregular. Whether Bayern would have won that way remains hypothetical, but the fact is that their comeback was initiated by a mistake by Tobias Welz’s referee team.
Trouble also occurred near Frankfurt, Heidenheim, St. Pauli and Illertissen
Welz was far from alone in making such clear misjudgments this Wednesday and the previous Tuesday. There was stress in many other games: Dortmund advanced 4-2 on penalties in Frankfurt, but the 1-1 equalizer by Julian Brandt was also preceded by an offside position: Maximilian Beier was in the forbidden zone, Sven Jablonski gave the goal because his linesman had left the flag down.
While in these two cases the assistants were wrong, in other situations the bosses were to blame. There was clearly no foul play in Heidenheim’s 1-0 defeat against Hamburger SV due to Robert Glatzel’s penalty ten minutes before the end. Benjamin Brand would almost certainly have been corrected by a VAR. FV Illertissen also received a penalty in the 3-0 defeat against Magdeburg after a duel that looked absolutely normal. But because Maximilian Breunig sank far too easily after Maximilian Neuberger’s mini-bump, Patrick Schwengers pointed to the point – this made the decisive 2-0 win for the second division team.
Arm applied, but still hand penalty against St. Pauli
A hand penalty for Hoffenheim also caused disbelief at FC St. Pauli: James Sands clearly had his arm on and did not increase his body size when Daniel Schlager pointed to the spot in extra time: This gave TSG the lead. In the end, the Kiez kickers made it further.
There was no shortage of criticism from those affected afterwards. Cologne coach Lukas Kwasniok struggled with a very successful comparison: “If you only drive with a navigation system, you’ll forget how to behave on the road.” Heidenheim’s coach Frank Schmidt was angry: “You can see it. He drops down, I don’t see any contact. And if you look closely at where the referee is standing, he can’t see anything.”
Frankfurt’s Hellmann is “for everything that can be measured”
Frankfurt’s supervisory board boss Axel Hellmann even had the mistake confirmed by the referee after the game: “He looked at the scene and said: Sure, that was offside. But you couldn’t see it that way.” Hellmann’s conclusion: “I’m always asked whether there isn’t so much that speaks in favor of the VAR. I’m in favor of everything that is measurable. We have to make the measurable decisions with the VAR. But then we have to do that too.”
According to the DFB, the principle of equality speaks against this so far. Of course, in games like Cologne against Bayern and Frankfurt against Dortmund, video evidence would be possible without any problems even before the round of 16. But the cup organizer is of the opinion that all games in a round must be played under the same conditions – although there is actually nothing to suggest that Illertissen would be disadvantaged if an irregular Bayern goal were not recognized in another game with different technology.
Drees can imagine the VAR earlier
The referees would at least be open to using the VAR not only from the round of 16, but in the second round. “The decision as to which competitions and rounds the VAR will be used in does not lie with us, but with the respective organizer – in this case the DFB. We as Schiri GmbH are service providers and would generally be open if the request was brought to us.”said Jochen Drees, Head of Innovation and Technology, to the editorial network Germany.
Drees continued: “In the first round with numerous amateur clubs the challenge would definitely be too great, from the second round onwards you could at least deal with it in terms of staffing and infrastructure.”
Checking the feasibility of personnel
It is then a matter of examining the possibility of implementing the personnel. “If, after examining the individual cases, all the requirements are met, we would not ignore it and would certainly be ready to implement it.”
Because Drees cannot be concerned that the reputation of the German referees suffers as much as it did in this second round of the cup. Just because the VAR wasn’t allowed to help them and they had to trust their own perception or that of their assistants on the line.