The Conmebol acknowledged on Wednesday that the VAR He was wrong not to review the field referee’s decision regarding a “reckless” contact by the Colombian Daniel Munoz on Vinicius Júnior inside the area.
The play occurred in the 42nd minute of the match between Brazil and Colombia (1-1), when the Canarinha won 1-0 against the Colombian team, at the end of Group D of the United States Copa America.
Muñoz cut off a Vinicius run inside the areabut Venezuelan referee Jesús Valenzuela saw no infraction and ordered play to continue. “He touches the ball,” Valenzuela said in the audio recordings released Wednesday by Conmebol.
The VAR, captained by the Argentine Mauro Vigliano, Then he went into action. “I need to see if he touches the ball. I want to see if he changes the direction of the ball (…) If he touches the ball, right? Yes,” said the voice of the VAR.
“Jesus (Valenzuela), very tight, you can restart. He pinches the ball when he lowers his foot and then gives it momentum, then there is contact,” he added, addressing the field referee.
However, Conmebol analyzed the incident and described it as follows: “In a dispute for the ball inside the penalty area, a defender does not touch the ball and as a result of the dispute, a reckless contact is produced for the action. The referee fails to observe the action and lets the game continue.”
The entity noted that The VAR, in a protocolary manner, went on to analyze the play “with different angles, speeds and considerations, and fails to identify that the defender does not touch the ball before recklessly contacting the Brazilian forward.
“In light of this, the VAR incorrectly confirms the original decision on the field.” admitted the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol).
The decision to play was harshly criticized by the Brazilian coach, Dorival Júnior, at the end of the match, which ended in a draw (1-1), as shortly after the penalty not awarded to Vini, Daniel Muñoz himself would equalise the score.
“The referee was decisive. Inside the stadium only he and the VAR did not see a penalty, “That certainly existed. Brazil was seriously disadvantaged,” the coach criticised.
Read also
In his opinion, that penalty could have changed the course of the match, becauses the Canarinha would have had the chance to go 2-0 up and sentence the counterattack.
The coach also did not think that Vinicius’ warning was correct. He was booked shortly after the match started for leaving his arm on James Rodriguez near the area, and will not be able to play in the quarter-final match against Uruguay due to an accumulation of cards. “Everything that happened is very strange,” he said.
