VAR ...."Very average refereeing"

The 2018 World Cup has been amazing, with half the matches now played and nearly all the qualifiers for the knockout rounds just about clear, it has been a tournament of surprises.

A "friendly" tournament off the pitch, all supporters mixing and enjoying each other’s company in the bars and restaurants. No gang violence from the local Russian hooligans, so far!
England playing some positive football and scoring goals, Argentina getting through by the skin of their teeth with at best an average team and Ronaldo nearly missing out due to VAR. Germany FAILING to make the knockout stages for the first time in World Cup history, minnow teams playing attractive football, not being scared of the opposition’s reputation.

VAR being both a success (as with the first goal for South Korea against Germany in the last group game) and a complete shambles in the match between Portugal and Iran. It will have teething issues but some of the decisions that have been reversed have been terrible. Refs are constantly under pressure yet we presumed this would make the difficult moments simpler. Clearly not, it just proves the Premier League refs aren`t so bad after all.

Enjoy the knockout matches, it’s getting into squeaky bum time! Plenty of sunshine around for all your golf coming up in the next few days, enjoy it while you can!