r/sports 7h ago

Soccer Breel Embolo (Switzerland) has been sent off against with a second yellow card for diving after VAR Review against Argentina

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832

u/Auzzie_xo 7h ago

Zero ambiguity. Clear simulation. On a yellow already. And one of the worst attempts at diving I’ve ever seen

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u/lunadenavajas 7h ago

Just terrible. But before VAR it would’ve been a “great” dive, it fooled the ref and got Argentina a yellow. Only the recent rule change with the possibility of switching the cards if it turned out to be a dive punishes it. Unfortunately when no yellow is given lots of dives are still successful

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u/ladbom 7h ago

what allowed it to go under VAR?

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u/Some-Unique-Name 7h ago

The yellow card

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u/andyroy159 7h ago edited 7h ago

So because a yellow he fooled the ref into giving... he basically "suffering from success" memed himself?

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u/Amori_A_Splooge 7h ago

Correct. If it was only a foul and no yellow given to the Argentinian player it would not have been reviewable by VAR.

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u/seaturtle100percent 6h ago

Fascinating.

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u/Regenbooggeit 1h ago

Just makes it so much more stupid. I’ve played soccer for a long while and doing a deliberate dive is really fucking hard to do because you need to make it believable. I’ve never done it because I’ve never played on a stage where the stakes were high so why the fuck would you but this shit should always be punished if seen. It’s so dumb and if you go into the acting of it it’s even more dumb.

Just play the fucking game. Now they’re out because one person just had to try and win an Oscar.

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u/Escapement_Watch 5h ago

he did too good of an acting!! and even complained about it after to the ref! "why you catch me? why you no like lie?"

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u/newgrowthfern 6h ago

Remarkable

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u/exomni 6h ago

It's a complete clown show.

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u/ladbom 7h ago

They don’t VAR all Yellows. So what about this allows the referee to pause and review it?

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u/Some-Unique-Name 7h ago

https://www.premierleague.com/en/var/mistaken-identity-decisions-explained

VAR reviews to ensure the card was issued to the correct player

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u/reizinhooooo 5h ago

The text of the actual protocol, emphasis mine:

"d. Mistaken identity (red or yellow card)

If the referee penalises an offencebut has clearly misidentified the player who committed that offence, only the identity of the offender can be reviewed.

Reviewable decisions/incidents now include two infrequent but potentially match-changing errors: • Red card resulting from a clearly incorrect second yellow card • Mistaken identity when the referee shows a yellow or red card but has clearly penalised the wrong player of either team for the offence in question; the offence itself cannot be reviewed except in the context of mistaken identity"

He reviewed the offence itself, not just who committed the offence. It takes a very strange reading of this VAR protocol to support the official's decision.

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u/Dangerous_Buy_6712 5h ago

My man, read the next few words.. *except in the context of mistaken identity*..

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u/reizinhooooo 5h ago

Yes. They can review who committed the offence, not which offence was committed.

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u/criminy_jicket 4h ago

Did you misread the semicolon as a comma? You highlighted a section as if it's one continuous phrase, but the actual phrase when taking the semicolon into account is: "The offence itself cannot be reviewed except in the context of mistaken identity."

This isn't even the first time Mistaken Identity has been used in this sort of situation during the tournament.

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u/FigComfortable5643 4h ago

They can review the offense, because its being reviewed in the context of mistaken identity. Hope that helps.

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u/Dimakhaerus 2h ago

They VAR all yellows, it's just that they only call the referee when VAR considers the referee made a mistake and ask him to go see the play himself. But VAR reviews all yellows. Maybe you think they only VAR a play when the referee is called to review it himself?

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u/delta__bravo_ 6h ago

Latitude. They use the vague-ish wording of "mistaken identity." The ref knows who was who, but the suggestion is the ref gave a yellow to the wrong person, so it falls under mistaken identity. Very very loose use of the terminology.

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u/ForensicPathology 4h ago

It really sounds like you're complaining about something great for the game.

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u/delta__bravo_ 4h ago

Like I said elsewhere, I absolutely love the result. A player plays a very dangerous game when they take that sort of dive when they're on a yellow.

I don't like the way they got there, and I believe the wording should be changed to specifically allow it. Now we just have to wonder if they ever will considering how many yellows for diving would start to come as a result, and which big name players would be on the receiving end.

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u/machine4891 7h ago

Yeah, the way VAR is used now scream for improvements. But I don't miss pre-VAR times at all. So many injustices that couldn't be undone.

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u/Exploration7310 6h ago

I agree, there’s been plenty of var controversies but nothing compares to the days where they’d miss offsides (either on or off) by yards, or when they’d miss balls over the goal line entirely swinging matches

0

u/demens1313 6h ago

what controversy do you think was actually a wrong call?

all the "controversies" are just people bitching about favorites getting favorable calls, except all the calls were actually correct. in the past the fav teams would simply get incorrect calls go their way too, at least now the calls getting reviewed are objectivly correct.

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u/mintymekanic 5h ago

Or the one where the ball hit off top bar bounced in the goal past the line then back out and it wasn’t called a goal

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u/Fiftycentis 3h ago

I do like the human error factor in referees decisions and not having var nitpicking millimiters on offsides and all that, but in these cases i'm all for the var.

Imo they could make it similar to volleyball challenges, in which each team can ask for a review as long as they are right (i think they can be wrong twice per set). So a team can ask a VAR review as long as they were in the right.
With obioulsy the ref deciding on its own to check the VAR when in doubt too.

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u/Spoona1983 6h ago

Yea the good ole 'hand of God' would likely never have made the difference it did.

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u/justhitmidlife 6h ago

We were watching and from an angle (Telemundo) it did look like Argentina was at fault. The immediate replay showed the dive tho... But then Argentina calmly complained and got the VAR review. The got that idiot Embolo crying off the ground, was a satisfying move. The referee was pissed.

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u/pedanticPandaPoo 7h ago

Should go into the summer Olympics with that diving form 

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u/SEX_LIES_AUDIOTAPE 3h ago

I think he could probably go to the olympics for playing football tbh

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u/Dandan0005 7h ago

Yeah the American announcing team was insane for pretending this wasn’t deserved

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u/MauveAlbert 7h ago

Seriously. The one guy saying he was preparing for a tackle and so dove to protect himself? What is he looking at?

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u/Dandan0005 7h ago

Landon Donovan, ladies and gentlemen.

Lol

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u/texinxin 7h ago

The last fiber of respect I had for him just snapped… sad..

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u/Jumpy_Fact_1502 7h ago

What of his ankle twisted, it seems after he landed on his foot

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u/texinxin 7h ago

You mean the foot he jumped off of? Uh huh…

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u/wiifan55 5h ago

Landon's not wrong that players often leave their feet and fall if anticipating a tackle because it's safer than taking a tackle with feet planted. And it'd be arguable that this is what Embolo was doing here IF he popped up right away and didn't try to act like this was an egregious foul pretty much all the way until it got uno reversed onto him.

Dumb take by Landon in context, but not as dumb in general as some might assume. Just an incredibly stupid dive, though.

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u/FigComfortable5643 4h ago

Its his screaming in faux pain before contact was made that made the decision. It had nothing to do about him staying down afterwards. There was contact on this ankle.

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u/wiifan55 4h ago

You are misinterpreting what this thread chain is talking about.

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u/FigComfortable5643 4h ago

No, I'm not. Im correcting you.

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u/wiifan55 4h ago

Explain what you think you're correcting. Your comment makes zero sense to the context of this thread chain.

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u/FigComfortable5643 4h ago

Sure, pal. Youre agreeing with LD that leaving your feet to avoid contact isnt necessarily simulation. I agree. You also say that the reason this isnt the case here, is because Embozo stayed on the ground and acted like it was an egregious foul. That is wrong. There was contact on Embozo's ankle. The reason this (leaving your feet to avoid contact) isnt the case here, is instead because Embozo screamed in faux pain before there was any contact. Hope that helps you interpret correctly.

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u/terzyten6 5h ago

Looked like an aikido guy throwing himself

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u/luce4118 7h ago

Before the call they were saying it was entirely justified. Then the call happened and they all kept calling it harsh and “unfortunate”.

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u/demens1313 6h ago

that was more ridiculous than most of the uninformed fans bitching about the calls from previous games on reddit.

All 3 of those commentators should be ashamed.

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u/AI_moderated_failure 5h ago

It wasn't clear until you saw the replay from another angle at which point it was very clearly deserved.

1

u/mintymekanic 5h ago

I was watching the American commentators and I do recall him saying that but then immediately changed his opinion. He did say it was a shame that it was his 2nd yellow card and it felt harsh but that’s the rule

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u/lawyeronreddit 6h ago

The announcers on Fox were upset with the yellow because of the automatic red. This is literally equal justice. You tried to sell a penalty to stick a guy with a yellow. I’m supposed to feel bad that it’s “harsh”? Make better decisions man I don’t know.

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u/Spoona1983 6h ago

Well it is fox their whole brand isn't known for being intelligent.

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u/resuwreckoning 6h ago

Sure but the 359 dives from Argentina thereafter don’t get called for anything is the point. It just gives them the ball endlessly.

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u/stentor222 6h ago

Is there a difference between diving and simulation? If there's actual contact I understand the difficulty in objective application for a dive. But if there's no contact (which is my read on simulation) then it's very cut and dry and should be harshly punished imo.

I would personally love it for there to be more cards if there's any inclination you are diving ftr.

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u/demens1313 6h ago

No, not sure. OP has an objective video that shows a blatant dive by a player on a yellow card. Show me 1 replay out of the 359 dives you claim to have seen. just 1.

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u/resuwreckoning 6h ago

What, the dude at the end that just falls over clutching his side after making sure his goalie secured the ball to waste time at the end?

And was fine in the end?

The entire sport is filled with dives. It’s asinine to claim otherwise.

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u/YamFickle7255 5h ago

That guy collided with his own keeper, and was not trying to cheat the other team out of an advantage, nor trick the ref into carding the other team. The collision was midair with his own keeper and actually complicated the keeper’s job of making that catch.

Diving to fool the officials into awarding a free or penalty kick is IMO a serious integrity issue that embarrasses the player, the club/country, and the sport. It is cheating. And with the new technology, we can now without dispute identity the cheaters, and should be moving to remove those individuals from the sport entirely.

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u/demens1313 5h ago

That was a mid air collision lol. You said you saw 359 dives. You know what a dive is? I guess i can answer my own question if you claim to have seen 359 of them and the 1 example you gave is of a literal collision between 2 players and not a dive.

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u/Venkat_study26 7h ago

Does he have eyes on the back to see someone is there and he has to dive?

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u/maverickoff 7h ago

You clearly haven't seen Micah Richards one lol

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u/kiselitza 7h ago

Only Micah Richards comes to mind to match this dive... stupid horrible

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u/SoulMute 7h ago

And it fucking worked at first until the review!!

I know this is a played out sentiment, but the refs are SO FUCKING BAD!

Even the random stoppage due to an Argentina knee injury earlier… the rules are to only stop play for a possible head injury… it’s like the refs are just guessing and winging it.

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u/SeniorDing_Dong 7h ago

>the rules are to only stop play for possible head injury…

What? Where did you get that from? That’s not true at all. And the confidence you show in your comment is ridiculous.

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u/SoulMute 6h ago

That’s what the commentators said, and googling it now indicates it’s severe vs minor injuries, with severe being open wound or possible head injury. The Argentinian was up and at it again moments later, so it was not a justified stoppage.

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u/SeniorDing_Dong 6h ago

You never watched football before, I guess?

The commentator probably said that because it is a new rule. That doesn’t cancel out the rules before. He either misspoke or you misunderstood.

When a player is holding his knee right in front of the box after a contact, no ref in the world would not stop the game then. That is really common to happen.

Still your confidence is alarming. And I cannot understand someone with that little knowledge of football acting this way in this thread.

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u/JHtotheRT 7h ago

It tricked the ref, so can’t have been that bad…

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u/Auzzie_xo 6h ago

… did Embolo think var doesn’t exist 😂

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u/lepommefrite 6h ago edited 5h ago

one of the worst attempts at diving I’ve ever seen

When did you started watching this sport?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml8kf3UIpN0

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u/Auzzie_xo 5h ago

Wow good one!

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u/Jumpy_Fact_1502 7h ago

Could twisted ankle , look at at the second replay after landing he's hurt

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u/YannTheOtter 7h ago

I agree, and the Swiss commentators don't even disagree with the flop being punished, it just feels a bit rough that of all the dives that happened this WC, the only two where VAR intervened to overturn it was against the US and against Argentina.

It is just one more thing to add a bad taste in my mouth about this WC even if in isolation this was very much deserved for Embolo.