Africa at World Cup 2026: What’s the point in having a VAR?

A very warm welcome back to former editor, Baffour Ankomah, to these pages and an equal welcome to his legendary ‘Beefs’ column. As the World Cup enter its final phase, his first piece asks how the VAR system seems to selectively go to sleep – especially against the so-called ‘small teams’?

The truth is the truth is the truth. And it has to be said, no matter whose ox is gored. And it was said by Egypt’s manager, Hossam Hassan, after their controversial 2-3 round-of-16 defeat by the defending world champions Argentina at the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals.

“I will say what’s on my mind regardless of the consequence,” coach Hassan said after the bitterly-fought game. “This was clearly a rigged match, and the whole world saw it. And I want to say one more thing: if they want Argentina to win so bad, why call everyone to come and participate?”

“A rigged match” may be an over-the-top expression by an angry coach, but the truth is that Egypt were robbed of a penalty in the closing minutes that could have changed the trajectory of the game, when Hamdy Fathy fell in Argentina’s penalty box just as he was about to receive a killer pass.

His shirt had been pulled by the Argentine midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, causing his fall. The referee did not blow for a foul. The Video Assistant Referee (otherwise known as VAR, manned by three human beings and not merely machines or semi-automatics) did not recommend a review either.

Fathy’s fall allowed Argentina to clear the ball which, as fate would have it, finally went to Mohamed Salah who tried to dribble his way into the penalty box again but was brought down by a Julián Alvarez challenge which, though deemed fair by later replays, looked like a penalty at the moment of contact.

On-field referees are human beings, so they miss things sometimes. It is why the VAR system was brought in to help the on-field referees to be fair to all sides, by calling for reviews especially in controversial incidents in and around the penalty box.

The Fathy fall was controversial and should have attracted a VAR review. But it didn’t. Twenty seconds later, the move that started with Salah’s fall in the Argentine box saw Enzo Fernandez scoring Argentina’s third and winning goal at the other end of the pitch. All hell broke loose on the Egyptian bench. And rightly so.

In the 58th minute, a scintillating second goal scored by Egypt’s Mostafa Ziko at the end of an exquisite move, in which the master-dribbler Haissem Hassan had played the dominant role, had been ruled out by a VAR review which rightly adjudged that Egypt’s Marwan Attia had committed a foul in the build-up to the goal by stepping on the foot of Argentina’s Lisandro Martínez 18 whole seconds before the ball hit the back of the Argentine net.

FIFA’s chief of refereeing Pierluigi Collina explained that “if a foul is identified in the build-up and is deemed to have had an impact on the goal, the VAR will recommend an on-field review. There is no defined limit regarding either the distance from goal or the amount of time between the incident and the goal.”

Justifying the disallowed goal, Collina said Attia “clearly treads on the foot of Argentina’s No. 6 Lisandro Martínez. We believe that a foul is a foul. Regardless of whether the foul appears ‘obvious’, if the referee did not see it on the field of play, the VAR can intervene.”

So why did the VAR not intervene in the Fathy incident?

A similar incident had happened in the Ghana-England Group L game which left the Ghanaian manager Carlos Queiroz fuming after the match, saying:  “I’m not sure VAR is still working in the World Cup. We still have VAR? Is it working? I have some doubts about that because another penalty that they needed to give to Ghana, a clear penalty against England [was missed].

“Once again, VAR went for a coffee. And it’s natural. I also like to take my coffee once in a while. But it was a clear penalty. You have any doubts about that? You guys [the media] who saw the game have any doubts about that, or is it only me that was in the game … I’m sorry for my sarcasm, but if I say these kinds of things seriously they punish me, so I hope you understand that I’m joking.”

Did VAR go to sleep?

But Carlos Queiroz was not joking, because every fair-minded person in England, including Kieron Dyer, the former England international, believed that Ghana should have had a penalty. But the VAR went to sleep. Three experienced people sleeping on the job!

The former Premier League referee Mark Halsey said he was “surprised” that the referee did not award a penalty. “I thought England was extremely lucky not to concede a penalty,” Halsey said. “For me, I think we are extremely lucky; I was surprised that VAR didn’t recommend a review. Had VAR recommended a review, I think England would have conceded a penalty. I think the Honduran official Martinez would have given a penalty.”

Robert Hawkes, an Englishman, agreed. He posted on social media, “I am an England fan. I was shocked it never went to VAR. It was definitely a penalty; the referee did seem to favour us all game with some of the calls.”

Which sent Ibrahim Yahaya Abubakar, a “proud African”, rushing to his social media, concurring: “The referee wished he could literally pick up the ball and score a goal for England. He gave all the soft fouls in good positions for England to convert free kicks. But no way. Rock steady. Proud African, up Ghana.”

So what is the point of having the VAR? So that ‘big’ teams or ‘big’ countries, like Argentina and England, will be favoured in controversial incidents, and ‘lesser’ countries robbed of key decisions?

That notwithstanding, 2026 has been Africa’s best World Cup ever – since FIFA, in its infinite mercy, allowed Black Africa to participate in the World Cup finals for the first time in 1974, a whole 44 years after the first World Cup finals were staged in Uruguay in 1930.

The disrespect for African football was massive in those days. Today, one has to be living under a rock to deny that African football has arrived on the big stage, with nine out of 10 African entrants qualifying from the group stage of 48 countries to the last 32 in 2026.

Even the African losses in the round-of-32 (only one, Morocco, qualified for the last 16) came without disgrace. They lost like men, not the boys the world had come to regard African teams. They made their conquerors sweat and suffer for their victories.

That Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez wept like boys after Argentina conquered Egypt by the skin of their South American teeth showed how much Africa performed at this year’s World Cup. Imagine Cape Verde, going to the World Cup for the first time, putting almighty Argentina to the sword and very nearly conquering them in a pulsating 2-3 loss, which Argentina celebrated like there was no tomorrow.

All things being equal, if the current improvements continue in African football, no one should be surprised to see an African winner of the FIFA World Cup by the next three editions. It is possible.

Baffour Ankomah, a former editor of New African magazine, is the founding and current editor of The Third Eye magazine in Zimbabwe.

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