Yes, even PRO agrees that Hassani Dotson’s goal against the Colorado Rapids should have stood. Perhaps more concerning is the audio of the review, which shows how the system can go off the rails, as the officials seem to start from the point of the decision being wrong and work back from there. It also seems to show referee Malik Badawi was relatively unconvinced before ultimately changing his decision.
In a written review of the assessment, PRO said: “In the process of contesting the ball in the air, De Rosario (SEA) made contact with Yapi's (COL) head – who had cleared it – with his own head. The ball eventually fell to Dotson (SEA), who scored a goal. The VAR recommended a review because he determined that the contact by De Rosario was late and had an impact on Yapi's ability to defend. This was a subjective call because both players made a genuine attempt to head the ball and PRO would have preferred this was not recommended for review because it did not meet the high threshold for a clear and obvious error. The referee disallowed the goal after video review due to the foul in the attacking possession phase.”
While that does provide some level of vindication, the actual audio of the review process is perhaps more concerning than the final decision itself. For one, there’s a clearly mistaken belief that Yapi going down is what keeps the play onside and thus allows the whole situation to rise to the level that the supposed foul seriously impacted the play. The VAR officials seem to just take that at face value without even confirming that belief, as the video clearly shows that Yapi is joined not by just one but two other Rapids defenders in keeping Dotson onside.
The video of the second overturned play – a red card to Noah Cobb – doesn’t do much to vindicate the VAR, even though PRO ultimately agreed with the decision. Again, VAR seems to start from the point that a mistake was made and then sort of goes backward from there, with one official even voicing “I don’t know if that’s the best angle to prove that’s not it.”
This does not seem to be how anyone wants VAR to work. Not only is VAR’s directive to only intervene when a “clear and obvious” mistake has occurred, but there seems to be genuine backwards thinking in both cases. It’s now been almost a decade since MLS began to use VAR and this seems like an issue that should have been fixed long ago.
