Confederations Cup: Mexico And New Zealand Brawl Leads To VAR Confusion (Video)

Alan Duffy

22nd, June 2017

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Mexico came from behind to beat New Zealand 2-1 in Wednesday night’s Confederations Cup clash, but the big drama of the night came late on, courtesy of a major brawl and some ineffective use of VAR.

Leeds hitman, Chris Woods, had given New Zealand a surprise lead before second-half goals from Raul Jimenez and Oribe Peralta kept Mexico on course for the semi-finals.

However, late on and with New Zealand searching for a last-gasp equaliser, the game descended into chaos.

After New Zealand’s Michael Boxall had his shirt pulled back, but no foul was awarded, the defender launched into a wild two-footed challenge on Héctor Herrera. Not surprisingly, this all led to a classic brawl, with ref Bakary Gassama turning to the Video Assistant Referees to sort it all out.

Alas, this proved to be a less than slick operation, with Gassama forced to go to back to his video assistants on more than one occasion, and ultimately only brandishing three yellow cards and, bizarrely, no reds.

What a palavar! VAR still needs a bit of refining, I guess!

The game itself would end in a 2-1 win for Mexico, a result which sees them top of Group A and on course for the semi-finals.