FIFA Mafia, Video Referee and the Lions Vs Die Mannschaft Red Cards Saga

Those who took the pains to watch the last group match between Germany and Cameroon ended more confused over the role of the video referee in a football encounter. Expressionists say the video referee stepped out of bound because his rule is to validate goals, offside and not fault plays in the field. Though Germany won their Confederations Cup group and has booked a date with Mexico in the semifinals, they didn’t do so with the complicity of the video referee. Cameroon was still very much in contention to play spoiler in Sunday’s match until a Video Assistant Referee review saw Ernest Mabouka sent off. Mabouka’s red card came as a result of a challenge where both him and Emre were fighting for an air ball, with all their boots up high in an attempt to control the ball. Since Can was more faster, Ernest's stud caught him on the knee but it was not so serious. It was clearly an accident and not a particularly dangerous play, but the video referee stepped in with their mafia. This incident resulted to the referee dishing out two red cards. After viewing the video of what happened, the referee hurriedly showed the red card to a wrong player. He later nullified it. Though the Die Mannschaft won 3-1, it was not by merit.

The first half was mostly uneventful, with Germany controlling possession and creating very little with it. Joshua Kimmich had the best chance of the half, missing a point-blank header in the 24th minute. Marc-Andre ter Stegen had to make a big save in the 45th minute to keep the score level, tipping a shot by Andre Zambo Anguissa over the bar.

But Germany started quickly in the second half, and had the lead by the 48th minute. Kerem Demirbay was the scorer, tallying his first career goal for his country. He both started the move and finished it, surging forward from midfield and playing a one-two with Julian Draxler. Demirbay collected Draxler’s backheel pass 30 yards from goal, took a long stride forward, then smashed the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the box.

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