While the 2018 World Cup has been undeniably brilliant for the most part, one minor gripe to arise from the VAR-reliant tournament is the constant begging from players for officials to go back and review almost every little last stoppage in play using the new, but already internationally recognised finger gesture.
Already we’ve witnessed the trickle-down effect, specifically during Wednesday night’s meeting between Coritiba and Paysandu in the Brazilian Serie B.
With a Coritiba player down ‘injured’, Paysandu forward Pedro Carmona came stomping onto the scene to dish out some justice and, mimicking something he’s seen on television, began demanding that the linesman consult the video assistant referee.
The only minor issue being, of course, that no division of the Brazilian football league has ever used VAR…
Whereas poor old Pedro got a little confused, Pies certainly fear that his gesticulating may be a glowering omen of what lies in store for us next season – players the world over sheathing their imaginary cards and instead drawing thousands of tiny invisible television screens in mid air, all game, every game.
*Shudder*