Justice is coming to Concacaf. After several months in the Dark Ages, the football bosses of the continent are prepared to deploy VAR in the final stages of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Up to this point, Concacaf was one of three confederations in the world keeping the old-school refereeing methods, with Africa and Oceania being the other two. But after several complaints, controversies and horrific decisions, the Video Assistant Referee should be ready for use in the next round of WCQ games, scheduled for January 27. Although the plan of Concacaf was always to implement VAR in 2022, according to the Mexican outlet Mediotiempo, the last impediments to introducing the technology were solved a couple of weeks ago, when FIFA increased the number of referees in the region with an international badge. In Mexico, for example, the number of VARs with a FIFA badge went from five to six, while in Central America there are now several officials that can brag about their new status. Another issue was about logistics. Last September, Concacaf said that five of the eight teams looking for a ticket to Qatar didn’t meet the criteria for installing VAR in their stadiums. However, Spanish company MediaPro, the same that generates the TV signal for broadcasting the games, will provide the much-needed technology.
Source: The18
