The game between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and VfL Wolfsburg is already turbulent enough. The day after, the DFB admitted: The decisive goal could not be properly checked by the VAR.
The 3:4 defeat at VfL Wolfsburg caused double trouble at 1. FSV Mainz 05. On the one hand, Wolfsburg’s decisive goal only came in the fourth minute of stoppage time. On the other hand, the German Football Association (DFB) admitted the day after that, despite a long VAR check after Jonas Wind’s header, it could not be verified beyond doubt whether the Dane was offside or not.
“Due to the dense tangle of Mainz defenders, some of whom obscured one another, it was not possible to draw a calibrated line from the available camera perspectives that would have proven beyond a doubt that no relevant body part of a Mainz player was closer to the goal line than the tip of Wind’s toe.” said Alex Feuerherdt, head of communications at DFB Referee GmbH, to “Kicker”.
decision of referee stopped on the field
In concrete terms, this means: Referee Timo Gerach and his assistant gave the goal to make it 4:3 on the field itself. In the end, this decision stood despite all doubts because an offside position could not be proven.
Similar difficulties or even mishaps when using video evidence are rare, but they do occur. Last year, Ermin Bicakcic from Eintracht Braunschweig scored from a suspicious offside position in the second division game against VfL Osnabrück in the eighth minute of injury time to make it 3-2 for his team. Despite several minutes of attempts, a VAR check was not possible because the camera installed in the stands for this area of the pitch had failed.
Broadcast on Sunday, December 8, 2024, 10:05 p.m., SWR Sport, SWR
