GOAL
The Colombian official has a habit of making the headlines with his controversial calls, and did so again in the Three Lions’ narrow victory.
England got their World Cup campaign to a promising start with a 2-1 win over Tunisia, but could have won with a more comfortable lead and potentially two penalties had they been awarded by controversial referee Wilmar Roldan.
The Colombian referee had an infamous reputation heading into the Russia finals following his track record officiating past matches, and a spate of curious decisions drew derision from England fans.
Roldan failed to award England penalties after they felt that they should have been given at least two, having sanctioned Kyle Walker for a shove in the first half that led to Tunisia’s equaliser from the spot.
In England’s opening World Cup fixture against Tunisia, Kyle Walker seemingly brought down Fakhreddine Ben Youssef inside the box which led Roldan to give a penalty.
Roldan did not consult with the VAR at all before his decision to award the penalty to Tunisia – which they scored to even out the scoreline at 1-1 – and some would have argued that it was a soft one to give.
Ferjani Sassi scored to level for Tunisia, and moments later, Kane was brought down in the Tunisia box in similar fashion to the way that Ben Yousseff was – if not harsher – but Roldan did not award a penalty or even check with the VAR.
Kane was brought down for a second time after the break but Roldan also did not give a penalty of even consult with the VAR. England fans on social media felt that he should have at least consulted with the VAR – first before giving the decision to award Tunisia the spot-kick – and then again to consult with over Kane being brought down inside the penalty area.
The main criticism that has been aimed with VAR is that though it does assist the referee in decision-making, there is still the problem of being consistent with the sort of punishment given after its consultation.