The World Cup entered the 21st century on Saturday when Uruguayan referee Andres Cunha used a video replay to reverse one call on the field and goal-line technology to confirm another in France’s 2-1 win over Australia in Kazan.
Under the Video Assistant Referee system, or VAR, a video referee watching the game from an operations center in Moscow can alert the on-field referee electronically when he believes a “clear and obvious” error has been made in one of four key areas: penalties, red cards, goals and mistaken identity, such as giving a caution to the wrong player.