England should have had two penalties against Tunisia... why did VAR not spot Harry Kane being grappled in the box?
- England should have been awarded two penalties against Tunisia on Monday
- Wilmar Roldan and the VAR system failed to spot fouls inside the Tunisian area
- Harry Kane was twice prevented from getting to a corner by a Tunisian player
- FIFA said they would actively look to stop these exact incidents at the World Cup
How did the referee - or VAR - fail to award England two blatant penalties for offences that looked more like wrestling moves than legitimate football challenges?
Thankfully England were good enough to overcome the ineffective officiating from Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan - and a mysteriously absent VAR - to win their opening game.
One of the things FIFA said that they would look to stop at this World Cup was defenders ignoring the ball at set-pieces to merely hold or block opponents.
Yassine Meriah pulls back Harry Kane (right) while Syam Ben Youssef grabs John Stones (left)
Roldan kept warning the Tunisians before the ball was played into the area but twice failed to award England penalties when Harry Kane was blatantly hauled to the ground.
The offences were so clear that I was surprised, and disappointed, that the Brazilian referee Sandro Ricci in the VAR studio in Moscow didn’t get involved. That’s why he is there.
Ricci’s failure to do so was even more surprising given he’d awarded a penalty as the on-field referee in the Croatia-Nigeria match on Saturday night for the exact same offence.
Ferjani Sassi (right) can be seen holding the England captain back from reaching a corner
Sassi continues to hold Kane back as the corner is delivered into the Tunisia penalty area
Kane is eventually pulled to the ground but the Tunisian star goes unpunished by the officials
Incredibly, Tunisia got through the game without a single yellow card despite some cynical fouling.
Fortunately the result wasn’t affected but Pierluigi Collina, FIFA referees chief, must be talking to both the referee and the VAR operatives to ensure such foul play in the penalty area is punished in future.
Roldan didn’t hesitate to point to the penalty spot for Tunisia when a poorly positioned Kyle Walker inexplicably threw his arm up and blocked Fakhreddine Ben Youssef.
The Tunisian made the most of the contact but it was a penalty, albeit a soft one which was made all the harder to accept when England were denied two much more obvious penalties.
Referee Wilmar Roldan ignored England's protests during the World Cup group tie on Monday
