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#1 Vital referee decisions going against Oman
The first half could have ended 1-0 in Oman's favor had it not been for Malaysian referee Mohd. Amirul Izwan's poor judgment.
The Omani players surrounded him when he awarded Japan a penalty in the 26th minute. To the naked eye and from the referee's angle, it looked as if Raed Saleh had brought down Genki Haraguchi outside the penalty box. However, the replays indicated that Saleh had kicked the ball in Haraguchi's legs and didn't make any contact at all.
In the dying embers of the first half, Raed Saleh's shot on goal was blocked by Yuto Nagatomo's hand but the referee didn't award a penalty as he deemed it to be in his natural position. However, the replays confirmed that his hand was moving away from the body.
While the commentators and fans have the leisure of watching replays, the referees do not. VAR will be implemented in the tournament from the quarter-finals but it might be too late for Oman who could have walked away with a victory.
