Ronaldo, Modric, Zidane react to new FIFA video replay technology

After an impressive win over Club America at the on-going FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, Real Madrid’s Christiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and coach Zidane have made comments over the new video replay policy of the world football governing body, FIFA.

Ronaldo put in an injury-time goal to help Real Madrid beat Club America 2-0 and earn a spot in the Club World Cup final. And when referee Enrique Caceres appeared to ask for confirmation from his video assistant referee that there was no offside, Ronaldo was overheard saying with a laugh as he left the field, “The television doesn’t work, huh?”

Midfielder Luka Modric, who was named Man of the Match, was similarly bemused with the new innovation, as he revealed that it has not been thoroughly explained to the players.

“It is a new system, even a new event, and I do not like it very much,” Modric said. “That is because I think it can cause a kind of confusion and we have not had it explained to us in too much detail.

“I do not like football with this kind of a system being introduced. I want to focus on the match and play my own football, so my first impression was it’s not a good system,” the Croatian midfielder added.

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Zinedine Zidane, the coach of the La Liga giant, was rather less critical.

“We need to get used to it. If that is FIFA’s policy it is up to us to get used to it.

“My personal opinion is that it could cause some confusion but FIFA’s technical group will make a good decision. It could be better as everything could become clearer,” he stated.

The replay system is a new policy by FIFA that allows referees to halt games to review footage of game-changing decisions. And on Wednesday, Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai became the first to use the video replay to issue a penalty kick to Kashima Antlers in their 3-0 semifinal win over Atletico Nacional.

 

 

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