EURO 2024: God created Lukaku, why did he also create a hybrid version of VAR... cricket!
Báo Thanh niên•18/06/2024
In the biggest surprise at EURO 2024 so far, the Belgian team fell to underdog Slovakia when Romelu Lukaku put the ball in the net twice but VAR rejected it thanks to new technology.
Lukaku had the ball in the goal twice but VAR denied both times.
Reuters
After many unfortunate moves at the beginning of the match, in the 56th minute, striker Romelu Lukaku scored against the Belgian team, but VAR detected that the AS Roma striker was offside. In the 86th minute, the Belgian team launched a beautiful attack, ending with an unstoppable shot from Lukaku. The former Manchester United striker was not offside, he celebrated fiercely, but then was stunned when VAR said no again. This time VAR was still right, thanks to the support of technology applied for the first time at EURO, especially in the aspect of cricket that made Lukaku once again hold his head, raise his head to the sky and scream out of regret. That was the situation when Lois Openda was determined to have touched the ball with his hand in an attempt to get past the Slovakian defender. When referee Umut Meler approached the VAR check screen, for the first time football viewers witnessed the "touch detection" graphic showing that the ball had been touched by the player's hand.
VAR in football applies technology similar to snicko in cricket
Screenshot
This is the latest innovation of VAR, applied at EURO 2024 with a reference to the Snickometer technology - commonly known as the snicko - used in cricket to determine whether the ball has touched the bat. Television images showed that in addition to referee Umut Meler monitoring Lois Openda's touch, the snicko's "touch detection" graphic also clearly showed the flight path of the ball being affected by hand. Of course, there will be controversy, as former Premier League striker Chris Sutton told the BBC: "Openda did not push the ball in his attempt to dribble. It was a harsh decision. In the Premier League, that goal would be awarded."
Lukaku celebrates his goal with Openda before VAR intervenes
Reuters
But ITV refereeing analyst Christina Unkel explained: "The interpretation has changed recently. However, it would be considered a deliberate foul because the arm is at shoulder level, extended and the touch helps control the ball." It is understood that 'touch detection' graphics technology will be used at EURO 2024 to help referees make crucial decisions such as handballs or offsides, with balls fitted with motion sensors that can track every touch at a rate of up to 500 times per second. The high-tech 'connected ball' was used effectively at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar two years ago, to determine whether the ball had made contact with a player's hand on its way to goal or whether a player was running under the last defender at the exact moment the ball was played. With this technology, each match at EURO 2024 will have 1 video assistant referee and 2 VAR assistants, compared to 3 assistants at EURO 2020, combined with 10 cameras monitoring 29 different points on the player's body to accurately assess the possibility of offside immediately when determining the point of contact of the "connected ball" like the way Lukaku's 2 goals were not recognized.
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