Copa America 2019: Colombia 1-0 Qatar - Three observations from the match

#3 Poor execution of the VAR

Referee Alexis Hernandez showed poor management of the game and the VAR

Match officiating of the Copa America plumbed new depth in this particular game with Venezuela's Alexis Hernandez poorly managing the proceedings.

He let several aggressively remonstrating players walk scot-free by refusing to brandish a card, and also came across as rather frail in his approach in tense situations.

However, what really got the audience's goat was his frustrating execution of the Video Assistant Referee, which was called into question on two separate occasions.

On the first, the referee paused the game in the 32nd minute for an apparent handball inside the area, but did so a couple of minutes after the event took place. And then, Hernandez engaged with the video officials over the microphone long enough for us to witness the next Haley's comet, before he finally decided to review the incident on the big screen.

Next, in the second half, the Albirroja were awarded a penalty for another handball inside the box, and Hernandez straight away brandished a yellow to Abdulaziz Hatem, only to rescind it later on. Once again, he took a considerable amount of time to consult the VAR, and was instead spotted making heated exchanges with the furious Qatari players.

The Video Assistant Referee was meant to ease the officiating task and also reduce the number of mistakes by a referee. But if you don't know how to efficiently capitalize on such a facility, there will be hardly any difference.