‘The VAR referee was on vacation’ : Ghana boss Queiroz fumes after England draw

Queiroz did not hide his frustration after Ghana’s 0-0 draw with England at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday night, accusing the video assistant referee of being on vacation.

The Portuguese trainer arrived at the post-match press conference visibly irritated, glancing pointedly towards a FIFA official seated at the back of the room before launching into the most pointed critique of officiating Ghana have offered at the tournament so far.

The Black Stars felt they were denied two strong claims for an England red card and a penalty.

The two incidents that prompted it were fresh in everyone’s mind, and the head coach was not in the mood to let them pass without comment.

“Is VAR still working in the World Cup? Do we still have VAR? I have doubts about that. The VAR referee was on vacation (in the) second half, apparently.”

The first incident came in the 66th minute. Substitute Prince Kwabena Adu, on the pitch for less than a minute, latched on to a slipped through-ball behind England’s back line and looked set to round England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in or around the area. Instead, Pickford came charging out and collided heavily with the Viktoria Plzen forward.

Honduran referee Saíd Martínez immediately awarded a free kick to England, ruling that the Ghanaian had fouled the goalkeeper. There was no VAR review. Queiroz, who described the contact as a “clear shock,” insisted Pickford should have walked.

Then, in the 79th minute, England defender Ezri Konsa came across to challenge Adu just as the substitute looked to drive into the box again. The Aston Villa man went in late and high, taking down the Ghana striker without winning the ball cleanly first. Ghana’s bench were up in an instant. Martínez waved play on. VAR did not call him to the monitor.

Former England striker Wayne Rooney, working as a television pundit, agreed the home side had got away with one, noting that Konsa had taken a “huge risk” and got “the man, not the ball.”

By the time the camera cut back to Queiroz on the touchline, he was already shaking his head.

He was even less impressed by the time he reached the press conference.

“Once again, the VAR went for coffee. I like to take my coffees once in a while! It’s a clear penalty and a red card on Konsa. Do you have any doubts about that, or is it only me who was at the game?”

It was the second of three rhetorical strikes at the system in the same media session. Queiroz, conscious of FIFA’s strict regulations around criticising officials, tried to thread the needle between honesty and discipline and in fairness to him, he did so with humour rather than with anger.

“I'm sorry for my sarcasm, but if I say these kind of things seriously they punish me, so I hope you understand that I'm joking.”

Even with the disciplinary tightrope in his head, the head coach did not pretend his side had not been wronged. He acknowledged that the better team in terms of possession was England but argued that the result was balanced.

“We had our chances to the point that they're lucky. They're very lucky. They play more time with the ball, we fight more, we fight better, we create our chances, they have chances at the end. I think they are happy and I am happy also with the draw.

“We celebrated because we got a draw against a team who are one of the favourites to win the World Cup. You have to pay a high price to get points. Probably because we are in the United States where everything is expensive,” he added.

For all the noise around the officiating, the result keeps Ghana firmly in control of their qualification destiny.

The Black Stars sit level with England on four points at the top of Group L, with Croatia on three and Panama eliminated.

A draw against Croatia in Philadelphia on Saturday would be enough for the Black Stars to reach the knockout rounds for the first time since 2010.