Euro 2020 is finally around the corner! In just over five weeks, the action will start when Turkey and Italy kick off the tournament on June 11th.
We’re looking forward to a month of fantastic football, with the best players in Europe pitting themselves against each other, and the added fervour of national pride to spur them on. It’s not easy to pick a winner with a handful of nations all blessed with a rich depth of talent.
The Euro 2020 betting odds here at SBOTOP have placed Belgium, England and France as joint-favourites at odds of 6.50, with the Netherlands at 8.00, Germany and Spain at 8.20, and 2016 tournament winners Portugal at 13.00 alongside a resurgent Italy.
Any one of those eight could win the tournament and it’s unfair to rule out World Cup 2018 finalists Croatia, at attractive odds of 31.00.
The pre-Euro 2020 news was overshadowed last week after the failed attempt of Europe’s biggest clubs to break away into a European Super League (ESL). 12 teams, led by Manchester United and Real Madrid sprung their plan on the world of football and maybe underestimated the backlash which came their way.
UEFA, FIFA, governments and fans were united in their disgust, and when it was suggested that players would not be able to represent their nations, that added further pressure and the plans collapsed – for now.
That’s not the end of the potential controversy. For the first time in the competition’s history video assistants will be on duty in every game. A unique VAR will be assigned to each of the 18 teams to try to ensure the process is a smooth and efficient as possible.
But not everyone is convinced.
Unnecessary delays
Fans have become frustrated by the time VAR sometimes takes to make a decision. We all knew it was a good idea to rule out ‘clear and obvious errors’. How many times have we screamed, ‘Come on Ref, everyone in the ground could see that was a foul?!’ in frustration.
So VAR was born, and now if a referee is unsure of a decision for offside, a penalty or red card he can call for VAR assistance. Equally, if someone at the technology centre spots something the referee missed, then they can intervene.
It sounds simple enough but, in reality, the process has all too often been long and confused and fans have become frustrated. In the first season of the Premier League’s use of VAR, in 2019, some sets of fans delayed their goal celebrations until their players were back into their own half, fearful that a goal would be ruled out before their celebration had subsided.
Score a goal…walk back to your own half, the goal is confirmed and then your fans celebrate.
Ridiculous!
Goal-line technology is quick, accurate and non-intrusive and that is the standard that Video Assisted Refereeing must aspire to.
Offside by a toenail
VAR was designed to rule out clear and obvious errors but, in one aspect, it seems to have morphed into a method of detecting a player who has strayed a millimetre offside in the build-up to a goal.
In the Premier League, there have been countless brilliant goals chalked off after minutes of agonizing analysis while men at Stockley Park squint at their monitors and employ an industrial microscope.
In Manchester United’s recent victory over Burnley, the Red Devils would have been behind in the fifth minute had the technology not spotted that the tip of Burnley striker Chris Wood’s toenail was in an advanced position as he headed home…maybe…we’re not entirely sure!
Okay, offside is offside, but if you can’t be sure in 30 seconds you’re never going to be sure.
Human error is still with us
The biggest gripe fans have is that VAR is operated by referees, and so human error hasn’t been eradicated. And there have been some howlers.
It was hard to see what VAR, and then the on-field referee, had seen in Fabian Balbuena’s red card in West Ham’s recent defeat to Chelsea. At a critical part of the game with the Hammers trailing 1-0 the Paraguay defender cleared a ball up field ad caught Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell in his follow-through.
VAR and the ref combined to give him a straight red as armchair fans nationwide dropped their cups of tea.
The win took Chelsea three points clear of West Ham in the race for Champions League football and Hammers boss David Moyes didn’t hold back, saying the decision was made by ‘someone who’s never played the game’. Pundits wondered where Balbuena could put his foot as Chilwell ran into him and Moyes summed it up as ‘a really rank, rotten decision.’
VAR is supposed to help; sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. But it causes as much frustration and debate as referees did before the technology arrived.
Nothing wrong with that unless it’s your team on the wrong end of it!
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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