Earlier today, PRO Referees released the Inside Video Review for Matchday 7, and the penalty awarded last Sunday to New York City FC striker Alonso Martínez was one of the five plays that made the cut.
According to Greg Barkey, Manager of Video Review, Martínez was correctly awarded the penalty. But that was only after VAR referee Timothy Ford spent more than 4 minutes dissecting the play and making a case to referee Sergii Boiko that the call on the field should be overturned.
We might be biased, but the VAR review doesn't seem to meet the benchmark of Boiko making a "clear and obvious" error for a "match-changing" incident, to use the terminology of the "Video Review Glossary" published by Major League Soccer.
To jar your memory, here is the official definition of a "clear and obvious" error per MLS:
Clear and Obvious Error
A clear and obvious error is a blatant, incorrect officiating decision. During a Video Review, the question asked by referees will be: "Was the referee’s original decision clearly wrong?" as opposed to "Was the decision correct?"
Was Boiko's original call "blatant" and "incorrect," one that was "clearly wrong?" The answer to that question is objectively no: Boiko stuck by his decision, and the video review Barkey released today backs him up.
Instead, it seems that Ford was challenging if "the decision was correct" and second-guessing Boiko. By the rules of MLS, that doesn't meet the standard of a clear and obvious error that would warrant a VAR review – never mind one that lasted that long – and that arguably disrupted the flow of the game.
You can watch the VAR review here, and listen to the unedited exchange between Boiko and Ford:
Inside Video Review: Matchday 7
New York City FC vs Minnesota United
On the face of it, there was no harm. Boiko's call stood, and Martínez was given the penalty.
But Martínez was forced to wait for four minutes, close to 10% of the 45-minute half, and when he took his penalty his shot caromed off the bar. You can't put that miss on the officiating. But Ford's VAR overreach unquestionably intruded into the match, and seemingly ignored the standards that MLS established when they introduced VAR to the league.
The only "clear and obvious" error we can see is Ford's long, drawn-out VAR review of a call he didn't like.
