Richarlison absent as Brazil progress to Copa America semis

Brazil were pretty woeful again tonight, drawing 0-0 against 10-man Paraguay after a VAR decision overturned an original penalty decision for Brazil to award a free kick on the edge of the area, but then giving a red card to the Paraguay defender for fouling as last man.

The quarter final Copa America game went straight to penalties no extra time and Brazil edged it 4-3.

With just over a week to the final, I'm guessing that's Richarlison's participation in the competition is done and dusted.

Mumps in adult men can be extremely, ah, painful.

I'm watching both Copa América and the Women's World Cup and VAR has stunk both competitions out.

I'd rather suffer the errors and keep the emotion, not that VAR has stopped the errors, just introduced new and delayed ones... It STINKS!!!

So was the red card for denial of a goalscoring opportunity. Last man committed the foul, forward couldn't get the shot off, end of story. Again, correct call.

You don't like VAR, that's fine, it has had its problems, but you picked the wrong play to hang your hat on. In this particular instance, it worked just as intended. The ref called it a pen. He was wrong and VAR corrected it, and prevented Brazil from winning on an unjust penalty.

Brian, I tend to agree with you over this VAR ruining the atmosphere and delaying celebration. When it was first mooted, most were in favour of clarification, in cases of dodgy dives, play acting etc but, in reality, it doesn't seem to be working that way. At the end of the day, it is down to an opinion of the most influential/dominant official and, as we have witnessed, they still don't always get it right.

What they fail to realise is the very simple game is based on imperfection from players and officials and raw instant emotion.

The ball hits the back of the net and normally placid people lose their heads.
Now we can't do that because, 3 minutes later, we stop for a VAR decision which just muted the passion and emotion.

Sometimes in life, it's just best to leave things alone.

I've got to be honest and admit I can't stand VAR, as it is at the moment, it will spoil the joy of instant celebration and will definitely cause more arguments than it solves. In fact, I doubt I will come to like it — no matter how much they modify it.

So instead the interpretation must have been based on the last defender, bringing the man down and denying a goal-scoring opportunity, that's where the confusion lies. I'm not so sure you could regard it as a clear goal-scoring chance in that light, as the keeper was advancing on the player too, and had been brilliant in saving everything thrown his way.

I do hope it is under constant review and improvement, because it is a game atmosphere killer, and the time to get the decision through, makes any possible celebration like a damp squib.

With regards to the Women's World Cup – I haven't watched a lot of it but did see Holland vs Japan and the Japanese goal was right out of the Barca top drawer. Technically the women have been very good and some of the passing is excellent as is the finishing.

Also, apart from the Cameroon debacle, the spirit in which the games have been played is great to see. I would welcome the England team winning it if it gets more and more kids out and about instead of sitting in front of phones & computers!!!!

If you think back 12 years, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Roberto Carlos, Cafu... really was a spectacular generation.

Now its Firmino, Jesus, Coutinho, Everton, Neres, Artur, Richarlison... It just isn't at the level you expect from Brazil...good, but not great.

And the Brazil fans will boo at the first suggestion of 'difficulty' and the team gets nervous, makes simple mistakes.

In relation to VAR, it just takes too long.

He can stay where he is! We don't want him anywhere near the squad!

The simple fact, however, is that VAR is here to stay. And it will come to be accepted as an integral part of the game, as it has in cricket and rugby and baseball and basketball and American football and hockey and tennis. There's no going back.

VAR or whatever it's called in each sport -- DRS or TMO or "replay review" or "video review" or Hawk-Eye -- always sucks when first deployed. Always. It takes too long, it gets things wrong, it's misused by ill-trained officials to overrule marginal calls better left alone.

And then, over time, it gets better.

Jack and John, I certainly understand your point about the burst of instant joy when the net bulges, only to have the VAR review smother it. 25 years ago, hockey traditionalists complained about the same thing and predicted the sport would be irreparably damaged. Today, the National Hockey League is more popular than ever before. The fans get used to the change.

Maybe it will get better, but I personally think they are doing way too much, too soon, so at this moment I think it's very debatable.

It's okay watching a game on tv, if you haven't got a lot of attachment to either side, but I think it's going to be different if you are inside the stadium, so I will have a better view of this once I've seen it first hand.

My biggest concern is people sitting inside a VAR studio inside the stadium and influencing the referee's decision: Niasse was banned for diving by a panel, even though the ref said he felt that he wasn't deceived.

If that was a genuine penalty that Man Utd were awarded in Paris, and it happened to Everton in a massive game, then I'm not sure I will continue to carry on watching.

I have some brief memories of '78 with a certain Clive Thomas ruling out a Brazilian last minute strike because he blew his whistle with the ball in the air from a corner! Tosser.

And didn't the Argies thrash Peru to reach the final –but they delayed their kick-off so they would know how many goals they had to win by... and a fine Peru side bent over in the second half – probably worried about getting home safely.

VAR is sucking the life out of football. It's causing its own controversies and in its current format is being used too much.

Linesman being instructed to keep their flags down on tight offside calls will become farcical. The players may suspect it was offside, as may the fans, and if a goal is scored there will be muted celebrations whilst awaiting VAR to confirm that it was offside. You may even see players stop play themselves as they know they were offside and so can't be bothered to continue a futile effort to score.

At what point does VAR get checked on a tight offside call that wasn't flagged? What if the attacking team don't score and the defending team break away with a quick counter and score instead? Will VAR overrule the goal because of the other team's offside that was allowed to continue?

It will also get to a point when there will inevitably be a delay in celebrating all goals while we await VAR confirmation. VAR isn't improving football; it's making it a pantomime.

In saying all that, apparently the Premier League intend to use it more sparingly than what we have been witnessing, conscious that it shouldn't affect the flow of the game:

From BBC Sport:

All 20 Premier League grounds are equipped with the technology which will allow decisions to be assessed from the VAR hub in Stockley Park, west London.

VAR will be used for 'clear and obvious errors'; in four areas - Goals, penalties, straight red cards and mistaken identity.

This will lead to changes in the viewing experience for fans:

Television: Viewers will be able to see what the video assistant referees watch, including an 'over the shoulder' angle of the officials in the studio. The VAR team will be announced in advance, as per the on-field refereeing group. Broadcasters will be keen matches do not extend too much over the regular 90 minutes, particularly Sky when it has double-headers, with matches kicking off at 14:00 and 16:00 BST.

Stadium: Information about a VAR check will appear on the big screens at the 18 grounds which are equipped with them ie 'Checking red card'. When a decision is overturned, a video of the incident will be shown when appropriate. At the two grounds which do not have screens - Anfield (Liverpool) and Old Trafford (Manchester United), announcements will be made via the scoreboard and PA.

Chris #18, I'm confident that one of the first VAR idiocies to be sorted out will be the offside mess. You're right, at the moment that issue is an absolute train wreck.

But as to natural interruptions allowing for VAR, neither rugby nor hockey have more stoppages than footy, and it works for them. Just took a while to sort it out.

Good info on the Premier League usage of VAR. Cheers.

I hope he regains his starting roll, not just for himself or the Blues but mostly as he deserves it.

Main thing though is he gets ready for a huge season with us, I have a feeling he's ready to go up a level or two.

2019-20 the year of Richarlison, you heard it here first. ;-)

I'm enjoying the Women's World Cup with my wife and daughter. The wife is Swedish, so all happy today. Might be an interesting final. Even though we live in the USA, everyone in my daughter's office is supporting England. Might be because she's the boss, but anyway. Enjoying the improving skill levels and with a bit of luck, you never know.

Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr faced the cameras shortly after his side lost 2-0 to Madagascar in their final group game of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Given that the Super Eagles were already through to the round of 16 before Sunday's fixture, a lot of fans wanted Rohr to give a chance to strikers Victor Osimhen and Henry Onyekuru but the German opted to field his strongest strike force.

Explaining the reason behind his decision, Rohr told reporters including allnigeriasoccer.com : "Yes we had to see some other players, that's why we made five changes.

"We had to see the second goalkeeper, we had to see Ekong again, we wanted to see Kalu after his health problem and we wanted to see John Ogu.

"You cannot change 11 players, we changed half of the team already which is much. Of course, we would like to see other players but sometimes the attitude of the players in the training sessions, general attitude, they show us that they are not ready for such a big game.

"It was good to see the other players, we could give some rest to the important players, we cannot change all the players as we want to win also against this team who had this harmony to play the three games together.

"We had a lot of changes. Ighalo and Musa had to play because they were sick, they did not play so much the last time and they need the rhythm and also we wanted to score a goal but we could not."

Following their loss to Madagascar, the Super Eagles will face the second-ranked team out of Group F in Alexandria on Saturday 6 July.

I've just got in from a day-long BBQ and a hot topic was how impoverished the current Brazilian team is compared to some of those mentioned, including the marvellous team of 1982 undone by Italy and Paulo Rossi's hat-trick.

The overwhelming majority agreed that Neymar in his current state of mind and form is no great loss, but other than Cebolinha (and Richarlison! Quite a number bemoaned his dropping and subsequent mumps) nobody is stepping up to the plate to be 'the man'.

As for the 1978 World Cup, your recall, Liam, is very good. Thomas is still remembered and hated here in Brazil as he is amongst Evertonians. Playing Sweden, it was 1-1 when Brazil won a corner in the dying seconds. Thomas fussily delayed the taking of the corner; then, as the ball was in flight, just micro-seconds before it was cleanly headed into the net for a Braziian 'winner', Thomas the Twat blew the final whistle.

Yet another example of him wanting to be the centre of attention. No commonsense referee at any level does that. Let the corner play out... and THEN blow the final whistle, or blow the final whistle WITHOUT taking the corner. Once a tosser, always a tosser in his case.

Finally, you are also on the money about the scandalous Argentina 6 Peru 0 game that ensured the hosts reached the final. It wasn't a straight forward semi-final knock-out game. It was the final game in a second round of group games in which the group winner qualified for the final.

The two final group games - Brazil-Poland and Argentina-Peru - should have KO simultaneously to avoid any jiggery-pokery, but the hosts delayed their own KO which left them knowing that they needed to win their own game by an unlikely margin of four clear goals. They won 6-0.

This was at the time of right-wing military rule throughout South America, fighting the 'red menace' of socialism. For more insight, see the Channel 4 link below (they did a short report on the game a few years ago you can view) and learn about the arrangement between the military rulers of the two countries, the exchange of political prisoners, the intimidation from on high on the Peruvian team... and Henry Kissinger's role (and attendance, in the Peruvian dressing room just ahead of kick-off) with the subsequently disgraced and imprisoned military Argentinian President).

Dirty games indeed.

Link

Meanwhile I'm ready to watch the Gold Cup quarterfinal US/Curacao, a side the US coach insists on calling "dangerous." And the scouting report prominently mentions "top-level defender Cuco Martina of Everton." Uh-huh.

Who's the hot English chic on the panel along with Landon?

And where was "top-level defender Cuco Martina of Everton" for that obscenely simple goal???

Tell ya what, I owe our man Cuco an apology. He turned in a fine performance tonight, a captain's performance. Admittedly the US absolutely sucked, but he did a great job of marshaling his defense and inspiring his lads. Well done, Mr. Martina.

PS... he wasn't at fault for the goal. The Martina that Pulisic sliced up to get the cross in was the other Martina, the midfielder.

"Computer – fast, accurate, stupid. Man – slow, slovenly, brilliant".

Let's hope VAR suffers a similar improvement.

Hoping for a England v Sweden final in France next weekend, but the family all know that that will be the game will be the one on the Saturday. This is what being an Evertonian does for you.