Vietnam Calls Referees Unfair, Asks AFF To Present VAR

Park Hang Seo (Photo: The-afc.com)

JAKARTA - Vietnam national team coach, Park Hang Seo conveyed a request to the organizers of the 2020 AFF Cup to provide Video Assistant Referee (VAR) facilities. He did this as a form of protest against the referee's decision which was considered lame.

Hang Seo expressed hope about the existence of VAR in the 2020 AFF Cup in the press conference session after the Vietnam vs Thailand match. The match itself ended bitterly for Vietnam because they were beaten 2-0 by Thailand.

In the match which took place on Thursday, December 23, there were several decisions by referee Saoud Ali Al Adba which sparked debate because they caused controversy.

In addition to giving eight yellow cards, four each for Vietnam and Thailand, the judge from Qatar also pointed to the white spot for the War Elephant Team because Do Duy Manh was deemed to have violated Supachai Chaided in the 81st minute.

Meanwhile, Al Adba did not give a penalty when the hand of one of the Thai players hit the ball in the penalty box. When asked about the referee's leadership in the match which was considered detrimental to his team, Hang Seo couldn't say much.

"I have no comment (about the referee's performance)," said Hang Seo.

But on the same occasion, the South Korean coach stated that the presence of VAR in the AFF Cup was considered to be able to provide a sense of fairness for the participants. Therefore, he asked the AFF to review his request.

"Right now VAR has to be implemented because the media is asking questions that I don't know what to answer. Hopefully things will get better," said Hang Seo.

"There is a sponsor so you can use VAR and that would be better for all the teams," he continued.

Before Vietnam claimed to feel disadvantaged, the Indonesian national team was also a victim of the referee's unequal decision. In the semifinal match against Singapore, referee Kim Hee Gon's decision also caused debate regarding the violation committed by Pratama Arhan to Song Uiyong and the potential penalty for Indonesia after Ricky Kambuaya was brought down.