Premier League and World Cup referee Anthony Taylor had his VAR review inadvertently broadcast live on television following a FIFA blunder. The TV camera was stationed beside the pitchside monitor at Toronto Stadium in Canada, where the Manchester-born official could be heard communicating with colleagues in the VAR hub.
The 47-year-old experienced a hectic afternoon while overseeing the group stage decider between Senegal and Iraq. The African Cup of Nations champions required a convincing victory to enhance their prospects of progressing to the knockout phase through the third-placed route, and within 10 minutes, a goal and a dismissal had already occurred.
Iraqi defender Rebin Sulaka was originally brandished a yellow card for bringing down former Liverpool striker Sadio Mane as he broke clear towards goal. Yet after consulting the pitchside screen, Taylor escalated the punishment to a red card.
Audiences were afforded an unprecedented glimpse into the referee’s exchanges with the video assistant referees and replay directors at the central hub. Taylor can be heard saying: “There’s a player on the far side who is going to get to the ball? Play it for me. So the next touch with the attacker, one touch forward and he shoots on goal, yes?”.
“The player on the far side will not get to the ball before he shoots.” Subsequently announcing the verdict over the PA system, he stated: “After review, the Iraq number two performs a deliberate holding offence and denies a clear goalscoring opportunity. No covering defenders, therefore my final decision is red card.”
Senegal turned on the style in the second half as they made full use of their numerical advantage against Iraq. Crystal Palace forward Ismaila Sarr doubled the lead before a Pape Gueye brace put the result beyond doubt, and then Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye wrapped up the scoring with eight minutes remaining.
The emphatic five-goal victory took their goal difference to +2 and got their first points on the board, propelling them up to fifth in the third-place table.
The result heaps further pressure on Scotland, whose World Cup knockout hopes are now hanging by a thread following their 3-0 defeat to Brazil. Steve Clarke’s side are desperately in need of results elsewhere to go their way if they are to sneak into the last 32 and reach the knockout stages of the prestigious tournament for the very first time.
However, Senegal’s commanding victory means Scotland now find themselves outside the top eight, dropping behind Algeria, who face Austria on Sunday morning at 3am.