'Var welcomed addition' - JFF gen sec Wint happy for new tech as Reggae Boyz prepare to resume qualifiers Featured
General Secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Dalton Wint, has welcomed the implementation of Video Assistant Replay (VAR), which will be used for the final six games of the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers.
Prior to this, Concacaf was one of only three nations not making use of the technology, alongside AFCON (Africa) and Oceania, and were hampered in their efforts to do so by not only technological restrictions but also due to a lack of certified officials. With both issues rectified since the start of the year, the way is now clear for the replay system to be implemented.
In its absence, the competition has been plagued by what some believe to be high-profile refereeing errors. Against the United States with the game tied at 1-1, Jamaica defender Damion Lowe’s header, which flew into the net 7 minutes from time, was controversially ruled out for what appeared to be very little contact with US defender Walker Zimmerman. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.
With the country well behind on points in their pursuit of three and a half qualification spots, three points instead of one could have made a huge difference. Wint hopes that in the future such costly errors can be avoided.
“I think it (decisions like that) is one of the major reasons CONCACAF decided to implement it. It is really important to get the major decisions right,” Wint said of the upcoming technology upgrade.
There have of course also been times when the technology may have gone against the country notably when Lowe was himself yellow carded for a last-ditch challenge on USA player Brenden Aaronson, although the call might have been marginal at best.
“I’m all for it. If you have the technology, then why not use it. You can’t have it both ways, at times it may slow the game down, but it is important to try and arrive at the correct decision.”
The Reggae Boyz, who are currently in 6th place in the eight-team standings and 7 points behind the final qualifying spot, will resume their qualification campaign against Mexico on January 27th.