“We found the goal, should’ve had another penalty,” Carrick told Sky Sports. Of the major decisions made by Attwell, all four remain with the referee’s original verdict. The sport is caught between two imperatives — to want the referee’s decision to play its part, and to want absolute consistency. It has a lawbook but the complexity of football’s interpretative framework means that the same challenge may always be at risk of being judged differently. Football’s ecosystem cannot accept a world with the VAR system or a world without it.

Source: International New York Times March 22, 2026 17:41 UTC