Tomasz Kwiatkowski, who is the official who was in charge of VAR during the World Cup final, discussed to the difficulties that he encountered during the match-up between France and Argentina and in particular the lack of penalty awarded to Marcus Thuram, with the French international instead having been booked for simulation during that particular sequence.
Analysing the match, Tomasz Kwiatkowski confirmed that he only had a few phases of the game to analyse closely, but that he obviously kept a constant eye on each major match moment.
Tomasz Kwiatkowski had the following to say to TVP Sport:
“There were six goals where there were several tight situations in the crucial attack phase. I had three penalties which were very well dictated by Szymon (Marciniak, the main referee). I had two situations with a potential red card and a super-difficult alleged dive from Thuram, and underlined the fact that sometimes a dive is close in the balance with a penalty.”
The journalist doing the interview then asks him what was the most difficult situation to mediate. And he replies
“Definitely (Thuram’s) the dive. VAR referees often rely on the first feeling. In this situation, it was either a penalty or a dive. As soon as Szymon decided to the dive, I said he had to stop the game and we had to check everything first. Fortunately, I could see from the first check that he was be right. The second only confirmed it for me. Well, that means that the decision on the pitch was correct. We analysed everything quite quickly. It was not an easy situation from a VAR point of view.”
“When you’re sitting in a warm chair, drinking a beer and eating crisps, everything seems simple. In addition to the situations that I have mentioned, I checked a lot of small things to possibly help, for example, a quick indication of a number or a small hint about a decision.”
“These are the secrets of our trade that not everyone knows. Szymon and the players on the pitch deserve the biggest applause. I stepped back and was able to help the referees who were there on the pitch. It was a difficult and demanding match. For me too, in terms of emotions, the number of incidents and the responsibility involved. I had an easier life, thanks to the fact that Szymon was brilliant.”
James Thorpe | GFFN