It’s early in the Venezuela First Division season and last year’s runner-up Puerto Cabello was looking for any advantage they could find against third-place squad Portuguesa in a recent match.
With the score tied 0-0, they seemingly found their breakthrough moment in the 86th minute when they scored a goal off a beautiful cross near the sidelines. Alas, the linesman flagged them for offside and the goal was called off.
The Liga FUTVE broadcast went into analysis mode to figure out what happened. At this point, broadcasters will usually use VAR (Video Assistant Referee) to help show the specific angle at which a player was offside. In this instance, however, something seemed very off about that line, which purported to show that the player was, in fact, onside.
Venezuelan 🇻🇪 League VAR Offiside line 💀
Wtf?!?! 😭
pic.twitter.com/qkg2p1isiN— Tactical Manager (@ManagerTactical) July 23, 2024
Even though it was obvious the goal-scorer was a few yards in front of the defender, the diagonally drawn line tried to give the impression that he was onside when it was adjusted to match the angle of the camera.
That led to some initial reactions from audiences who were perplexed by how VAR got it so wrong. Turns out, this was not VAR, but instead just the broadcaster attempting to simulate it.
“The offside line shown was added by the broadcaster, it was not the actual VAR offside line used by match officials,” reads context added to the above video on X.
The whole thing garnered some comical reactions on social media.
The Venezuelan League VAR line, looks like a 1990s Charlie Sheen Sobriety Check.
pic.twitter.com/RUWGpm7eqN— Maximiliano Bretos (@MaxBretosSports) July 23, 2024
After the match, which ended in a 0-0 draw, Liga FutVe issued a statement, saying the graphic in question was “due to a bad action and individual execution of a resource that is not allowed in the productions of our competition,” adding that it “goes against our television guidelines.”
Liga FUTVE have released a statement today following *that video* from last night.
A number of media outlets were quick to mock Venezuelan football for a ‘VAR decision’ in a game that didn’t even have VAR. What you saw was bad, but it was a broadcast graphic, nothing more. pic.twitter.com/SNiPV3WwbO
— FUTVE English (@FUTVEEnglish) July 23, 2024
[Tactical Manager, Daily Mail, FUTVE English]
