{"id":54,"date":"2026-04-28T11:54:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/54\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T11:54:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:54:22","slug":"video-review-at-the-world-cup-is-resulting-in-more-goals-from-penalty-kicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/54\/","title":{"rendered":"Video Review at the World Cup Is Resulting in More Goals From Penalty Kicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Video review has made its debut<\/a> at this World Cup, and it is already having an impact. Through 26 matches, the video-assistant-referee (V.A.R.) system had a hand in awarding six penalty kicks that the on-field referee had not immediately called. Of those six penalties, four resulted in goals.<\/p>\n

Goals from penalty kicks<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n

Extra penalty-kick goals from V.A.R.<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n

Extra penalty-kick goals from V.A.R.<\/p>\n

Source: Stats, Inc. (percentages for previous World Cups are for the entire tournament)\n<\/p>\n

So far in the 2018 World Cup, 15.5 percent of goals have come from penalty kicks, more than in any previous tournament. Without the four extra goals that the V.A.R. system produced, there would be nine percent of goals from penalty kicks, more in line with previous years.<\/p>\n

The Six Penalty Kicks From V.A.R.<\/p>\n

\"france-v-austrlia.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\n Antoine Griezmann taking the penalty kick.
\n Darko Bandic\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

In the 54th minute of France\u2019s game against Australia, France forward Antoine Griezmann was challenged by Josh Risdon. Referee Andres Cunha signaled to play on, but after play continued for a short time, he stopped the game and headed to the review screen. After watching the play again, he awarded the penalty.<\/p>\n

Griezmann converted to give France a 1-0 lead on its way to a 2-1 victory<\/a>, sealing France\u2019s place in the round of 16.<\/p>\n

\"peru-alt.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\n This penalty shot from Christian Cueva of Peru sailed over the crossbar.
\n Gregorio Borgia\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

With time winding down in the first half of a scoreless match, and with Peru dominating much of the play, Christian Cueva went down in the penalty area during a challenge from Denmark\u2019s Yussuf Poulsen. The referee, Bakary Gassama, let play continue until the next whistle. He then reviewed the play on the on-field monitor and awarded a penalty to Cueva, whose shot soared too high. Poulsen scored for Denmark shortly after the second half began, and the Danes held on to win<\/a>, 1-0.<\/p>\n

\"sweden-sk.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\n Kim Min-woo attempting to stop Viktor Claesson.
\n Petr David Josek\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

The game was still scoreless in the 65th minute when Sweden\u2019s Viktor Claesson and South Korea\u2019s Kim Min-woo came together in the South Korean penalty area. Referee Joel Aguilar allowed them to play on, but stopped play moments later.<\/p>\n

Aguilar watched the play again on the field-level monitor and awarded a penalty shot to Sweden. The Swedish captain, Andreas Granqvist, took the spot kick and put it in the net for the game\u2019s only score<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"salah.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\n Mohamed Salah scored Egypt\u2019s only goal on this penalty kick against Russia.
\n Giuseppe Cacace\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/p>\n

After Russia built a commanding 3-0 lead in its match against Egypt, Mohamed Salah was held by Roman Zobnin as Salah was entering the penalty area. The referee, Enrique Caceres, gave a free kick to Egypt, but the V.A.R. took a second look and found that the foul, which began outside the penalty area, continued inside the area. And so Salah was given a penalty kick. Salah converted, but it was too little too late for Egypt, which was all but eliminated by the host country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Australia.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\n Australia\u2019s Mile Jedinak tied the game against Denmark after converting this penalty kick.
\n Emmanuel Dunand\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s Yussuf Poulsen had a hand in another V.A.R.-awarded penalty kick \u2014 literally. With his team up, 1-0, the V.A.R. determined Poulsen committed a handball inside the penalty area in the 36th minute of the match. Australia\u2019s Mile Jedinak took the shot and tied the score, causing the game to end in a draw<\/a>. The handball was the second yellow card for Poulsen, who will now have to miss Denmark\u2019s next match, against France.<\/p>\n

\"iceland.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\n Gylfi Sigurdsson\u2019s penalty kick sailed over the bar.
\n Andrew Medichini\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

With eight minutes remaining in the match and Nigeria up, 2-0, Alfred Finnbogason of Iceland was brought down in the penalty area on a trip from behind. The referee signaled that he wanted to check the play on the monitor, which confirmed to him that there was a penalty. Gylfi Sigurdsson took the shot for Iceland and aimed for the top corner. But the shot sailed too high, dashing Iceland\u2019s hopes for a comeback.<\/p>\n

V.A.R. Has Also Taken Penalties Away<\/p>\n

The video review has clearly been used to award penalties when the on-field referee did not immediately do so. But it has also been used to reverse penalties that were called on the field. In Brazil\u2019s tight match against Costa Rica, Neymar appeared to have been fouled by Giancarlo Gonzalez. But when the referee took a second look on the field-level monitor, he determined that there was more acting than fouling.<\/p>\n

\"neymar-flop.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\n The referee first ruled that Giancarlo Gonzalez fouled Neymar.
\n Anatoly Maltsev\/Epa-Efe\/Rex\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Video review has made its debut at this World Cup, and it is already having an impact. Through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[83,22,21,82,85,81,80,84,79,78],"class_list":{"0":"post-54","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-antoine-1991","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-austrlia","11":"tag-griezmann","12":"tag-mohamed-1992","13":"tag-neymar","14":"tag-officiating-sports","15":"tag-salah","16":"tag-soccer","17":"tag-world-cup-2018-soccer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}