An incredible action took place this Sunday in the Nigerian first division, when a referee decided to validate a goal after seeing the action on the mobile television unit.
The curious decision occurred in the match between Enyimba, second in the tournament standings, and Doma United, tenth in the standings.
In the 88th minute, Chijioke Mbaoma scored the goal that gave the home team the lead. The linesman raised the flag to annul the play for offside and the central referee, Nura Abdullahi, was left with doubt.
By not having the VAR, Abdullahi ran to the mobile television unit outside the Enyimba International Stadium, Aha, to watch the play again.
The referee returned to the field, followed by dozens of fans, and ended up ruling the goal valid. Thus, Enyimba won 1-0 and maintained second place in the table, with 42 points, one behind the leader, Lobi Stars.
The action was highly criticized, since judges cannot rely on this type of technological resources.
A precedent in Colombian football
A similar action already occurred in Colombia, in a match between Santa Fe and Deportes Tolima, on September 17, 2000. That afternoon, Jefrey Díaz, forward for the local team, scored a goal with his hand.
Jeffrey Diaz
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The Tolima players protested and referee Óscar Julián Ruiz leaned on the fourth judge, Francisco Camero, who had one of the television broadcast cameras next to him. There, Camero confirmed that the goal was illegal and notified Ruiz, who annulled the action.
“The referee acted in accordance with the rules of the game. He did not see the camera, but was guided by the information that the fourth referee gave him,” said Mario Bedoya, a member of the Technical Arbitration Commission.
Óscar Julián Ruiz annulled a goal after the fourth judge saw the play on TV, in 2000.
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Ruiz confessed, years later, that Camero had seen the play on TV, something that was not allowed, and that he feared that this decision would take him out of the Intercontinental Cup that year, which he finally directed: Boca beat Real Madrid 2-1 .
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