Reactive decisions
At Tam Ky Stadium, Da Nang club welcomed The Cong Viettel in a situation facing the risk of relegation. The home team played impressively and caused the away team to face countless difficulties.
However, the problem occurred when VAR technology had a technical problem and could not be used. This is a warning for the second half full of storms like the first rain of the season pouring down on this city.
In the last 15 minutes, referee Nguyen Viet Duan ignored a series of fouls committed by The Cong Viettel against Da Nang. The away team comfortably blocked and organized a counter-attack in the surprise of the Han River team.
In the 81st minute, Mr. Nguyen Viet Duan received a signal from the 4th referee and showed a direct red card to head coach Le Duc Tuan of Da Nang, because he thought this coach insulted the referee.
Previously, Mr. Duan did not fine The Cong Viettel player even though he fouled Emerson of the home team. In the end, Emerson himself received another card for... complaining. Technical director Phan Thanh Hung said he was so surprised by what happened in front of him.
At Thong Nhat Stadium, Thanh Hoa club had many reasons to strongly criticize referee Le Vu Linh. Although he is a FIFA-level referee, Mr. Linh made many controversial decisions in this match.
In the first half, the "Black shirt King" showed a second yellow card and fired coach Popov, despite him scolding his student for a dangerous foul. Next, Mr. Linh also withdrew 2 yellow cards in just 10 seconds for Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung - technical director of Thanh Hoa team for the same mistake.
In the second half, referee Le Vu Linh took 10 minutes to listen to a consultation from the VAR team, but did not watch the video to decide whether Manh Cuong and Huy Toan were offside when scoring the equalizer 1-1 or not.
In the 65th minute, Dinh Viet Tu passed the ball to A Mit, the midfielder returned it for ribamar to break through. The Thanh Hoa foreign player was clearly fouled by the opponent but the referee blew A Mit offside.
Reviewing the video recording, this was a controversial decision by the referee team. And there were many other situations where Mr. Linh made decisions that only the home team was satisfied with.
When is it?
Each season, a series of slogans and goals are set by referees and organizers. In fact, VPF has tried its best to improve the image and provide more technology for the referee. But that does not mean that the quality of referees tends to increase.
The "kings in black" are questioned more when they have VAR but make wrong decisions. Then, the old chorus appeared again. When the referee blows the wrong blow, the teams will receive a few beautiful apologies. Referees and individuals were given suspended sentences for several matches, especially in cases where they were encouraged to... submit a resignation letter.
In the end, the teams are still the ones who suffer the most. They have to accept very unfavorable results that are not their fault. Who will be responsible if they lose the chance to win the title or worse, get relegated?
About 10 years ago, many football officials asked how the hundreds of billions of VND they invested in football would be if the referees kept making mistakes like that?
By 2025, it will probably still be a very old problem: When will referees make fewer mistakes?
It is difficult to say that the referee is "not", because "not", how can he achieve a high level of international recognition? And, in the flow of Vietnamese football, referees are still like a rock that is difficult to move.
