Brighton news: Ex-Fifa official ‘suspicious’ as Kaoru Mitoma embroiled in major controversy
Brighton & Hove Albion star Kaoru Mitoma should have seen his controversial assist in Japan’s historic 2-1 win over Spain in the World Cup last week (1 December) ruled out, according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee admitted the quick decision to allow the goal to stand raised “suspicion”.
Mitoma was stretching to keep the ball in and it appeared to go out before he played it across goal for Ao Tanaka to tap in.
The referee originally ruled it out before a quick VAR review overturned his decision and the Brighton & Hove Albion star ran off to celebrate with his teammates.
“My original view was, and I still maintain it to some degree, that ball was out of play,” Hackett told Football Insider‘s Connor Whitley.
“It was confirmed by the assistant referee that the ball was out of play.
“When I look at it and VAR says it’s not gone out of play, I wonder what information he’s working on to be able to say that.
“It seems to me that, the decision and coming up with the usual photograph was long delayed. What we got was a photograph from above the ball looking down.
“I suggest that view, with the angles we’ve seen post-match and hours later, were not ones that were available to VAR at the time.
“If you’re saying that ball is in and produce a photograph hours afterwards that shows the ball just touching the line, I think the fact they didn’t come up with that definitive photograph immediately throws a degree of suspicion in terms of how they came to the answer.
“If you see that film clip, I can argue in law, given the information I’ve seen now, the ball is in play but what worries me is in the seconds it took to get a decision that the was not out of play seemed not convincing.
“At the end of the day, the VAR has got to make an instant call. The assistant referee has flagged the ball out of play, how can that be a clear and obvious error that says they have to integrate it?
“For me, if the match official says the ball is out of play then the ball is out of play. Ok, he might make a mistake but the ball’s out of play.
“It’s not clear and obvious and then they say they’ve got a goalline camera technology system and I worry about that as well. I know that goalline technology has to cover teh area between the posts, not the touchline.”
In other news, Chelsea are opening preliminary talks to sign a £25million-valued Brighton & Hove Albion star.