Personally I am a fan of VAR but the way it has been implemented so far has been very inconsistent. The first use of VAR resulted in a penalty being awarded to France. I thought it must have been awarded as the VAR and then the match ref (on review) didn't think that the defender Risdon had touched the ball before there was contact with Griezmann. I thought the replays showed Risdon had touched the ball first, but it wasn't outrageous IMO that the VAR thought otherwise. But today we learn that the officials all thought that Risdon had touched the ball first. Their explanation for the penalty though is a shocker. David Elleray, the technical director of the International Football Association Board and the chief architect of VAR explained the decision thus:
“The defender makes a challenge, gets a touch on the ball and then, as Griezmann goes forward with the ball, the defender lifts his leg and trips him. That’s effectively a second incident. That’s a clear-and-obvious error not to have seen that trip.”
Well Mr Elleray the only clear and obvious error is your explanation for the 'trip'. Every replay I have seen shows Risdon make contact with the ball just before Griezmann arrives. Risdon then slides along the ground as Griezmann goes past. Risdon's leg is on the way down when the back of Griezmann's lower leg makes contact with it and so forces the defenders leg up. This is the contact that saw Griezmann go (rather easily) to ground. Risdon clearly doesn't raise his leg, his leg is raised by the contact made with the back of Griezmann's leg. The contact is incidental and came directly after a legal tackle so the referees original call of play on was very much the right one. The decision to intervene via VAR and then overturn the original decision was a clear and obvious error. They need to get better.