I’m a long-time defender of VAR, and even I never want to see another referee reviewing footage during the middle of a soccer game like they’re about to solve a murder. You’re going to be hearing variations of that a lot going forward, I bet. An obsession with the letter of the law is ruining the spirit of the game, something critics of the technology have said all along. Anyone who watched Egypt lose to Argentina in Atlanta today will have a hard time not seeing their point.
Lionel Messi’s White and Sky Blues were already down a goal when Egypt made a courageous run down the field through multiple opposing Argentine players to string together an epic second goal. Mohamed Salah marshalled the ball across to Mostafa Ziko for a clean finish that conjured precisely the type of moment everyone tuning into a World Cup game is hoping to witness.
There was just one problem: a borderline foul at the other end of the field back before the play started. In came VAR to demand French referee François Letexier adjudicate the soft infraction that could not have felt more divorced from the magic everyone had just witnessed. Egyptian midfielder Marwan Attia ended up being penalized for a light step on opponent Lisandro MartĂnez’s foot just prior to the buildup, stripping Egypt of its initial second goal against Argentina.
Though the Pharaohs eventually scored again anyway, they ended up losing the game 3-2 in an equally dramatic comeback by Messi’s men. Instead of correcting a mistake, VAR hung like a corrupt shadow over the rest of an otherwise incredible match. I’ve never seen fans so united in their abject hatred of it.
VAR review of a foul 100 yards away erases a second Egypt goal vs. Argentina, as seen and heard on the Fox broadcast. #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/NMGuL1zbUS https://t.co/VFBcSpZVNW
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 7, 2026
VAR is beyond ridiculous at this point
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) July 7, 2026
Incredible Egyptian goal is disallowed because of a foul far away, then same situation a few minutes later and goal for Argentina not disallowed! No VAR, nothing? FIFA again looks like a corrupt joke, playing favorites for stars.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) July 7, 2026
If VAR had gone any further back in that Egyptian move Tutankhamun would be involved. How far do you go back? Probably right decision but what a pity, what a goal that would have been. 80 yards, majestic move, precise passing, would have been one of the goals of the tournament,
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) July 7, 2026
I’m not quite at the level of the “games gone” choir yet, but I’m getting dangerously close. Let’s just scrap refs all together and have a robot overlord call every single thing exactly to the letter of the law. That’s where we are headed. pic.twitter.com/IPLPBiLQXv
— Dax McCarty (@DaxMcCarty11) July 7, 2026
Egypt disallowed goal:
It's allowed under VAR rules but tech in football was never meant for that – to wind back the play so long to review a softer tackle at the other end of the pitch not directly in the final phase of the counterattack. A tackle seen at the time by the ref— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) July 7, 2026
Salah’s right foot got tripped in the build up to Argentina’s 3rd but there was no VAR check pic.twitter.com/MMlFgV3FQ8
— 🇨🇩🇸🇱 (@8Flavs) July 7, 2026
Egypt's disallowed goal was completely against how this tournament has been refereed.
You can't have a light touch where you don't give fouls for minimal contact and then rule out a goal through VAR for a very minimal hold of the shirt.#ARGEGY
— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonBBC) July 7, 2026
🚨VEJA: Jogador do Egito incrédulo com a arbitragem: “Injusto, tá claro e evidente.” pic.twitter.com/TvQ62X124f
— CHOQUEI (@choquei) July 7, 2026
Some will point to an inconsistency with how the game was refereed, with certain fouls getting VAR review while others did not. Others will argue this is less an issue with VAR as a tool than how it was applied in this particular instance. I am not a paid commentator or professional player, and I have no personal stake in this debate other than that I want to watch soccer that is cool, exciting, and fun. I want to be shocked by incredible plays, not by the gestures a ref makes when those plays are later undone.
Where many other professional sports keep time and manage clocks like corporate bean counters, soccer has eschewed the siren call of perfectly timed matches in favor of maintaining the flow and pace of the game. It’s messy, it’s subjective, and it’s way more engaging than the last two minutes of an NFL or NBA game, where time dilates and commercial breaks proliferate. VAR has always been a threat to that, but it’s increasingly a threat to the cool moments that are supposed to etch themselves into fans’ memories for years to come.
I’d rather contend with the arbitrary injustice of human error than watch those same mistakes derail the reason people delight in watching in the first place.
