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During a match between Colo Colo and Unión La Calera, football lovers were left perplexed following the referee’s decision not to award a goal after the ball crossed the line.
This controversial event occurred during a Chilean Cup game between both sides. Inside the opening 10 seconds of the match, Colo-Colo defender Alan Saldivia played an abysmal back pass to goalkeeper Fernando de Paul.
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The goalkeeper ran towards the ball and tried frantically to retain and disallow it from crossing the line. It eventually did vividly went over the line – by about half a meter. However, de Paul failed to get there quickly and only kicked the ball away after it had crossed the line.
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Sensing it was a goal, some of La Calera’s players started celebrating. Their jubilation was cut short upon realising that referee Víctor Abarzúa hadn’t signaled for a goal and Colo-Colo continued playing.
Drama continued when, before La Calera could even properly complain to the officials, Colo-Colo attacked with the ball and immediately scored to make it 1-0.
In what was a complete obliteration, Colo-Colo went on to win the match 6-1. They thereby reached the regional semifinals, while La Calera concluded the encounter with 10 men.
Are there no VARs in Chile?
The Estadio Monumental – where this match was played – is one of Chile’s stadiums to possess the video assistant referee (VAR). However, it is not used during the earlier rounds of the Chilean Cup.
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Roberto Tobar, who is the head of Chile’s refereeing committee, noted the error committed regarding the incident. He said it was committed due to a lack of concentration from the referee and his assistants.
“Regrettably … a quite obvious error was committed by the refereeing team in not sanctioning a legitimate goal for Unión La Calera after an own goal by a defender of Colo-Colo,” he said, according to outlet La Tercera.
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“This type of situation, which very rarely occurs within 10 seconds of the start of a match, means that the referees are not 100% activated and, as a result, are not in an appropriate position to make the best decision.
“Situations that are unexpected are when concentration and a good location take precedence to make a very good decision.”
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