Former English football star Gary Lineker called for abolishing the use of video technology in football matches, due to what happened during Egypt's match against Argentina in the 2026 World Cup.
The Argentine national team defeated its Egyptian counterpart three goals to two, in the match that brought the two teams together last Tuesday evening, at Atlanta Stadium in the United States of America, for the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup.
Egypt's match against Argentina witnessed many controversial refereeing decisions, most notably the cancellation of a goal for the Pharaohs and the awarding of another similar one for the Tango dancers.
Gary Lineker agreed with the statements of Alan Shearer, the English football legend, regarding the incorrectness of the decision to cancel the goal scored by Mustafa Abdel Raouf Zico into the net of Emiliano Martinez.
Gary Lineker said in statements reported by the British newspaper Mirror: "I completely agree with you, Shearer, but the problem is that we will never get consistency in the decisions of the video assistant referees, because they constantly change their approach".
He added: "At the beginning of the tournament there was not much intervention from the video technology, then they started intervening more, and now their intervention has become greater, and perhaps it will decrease again after the uproar caused by the cancellation of Egypt's goal.. The problem is not necessarily with the people who manage the VAR, but with the VAR technology itself".
He continued: "This is where the real problem with video technology lies, which is the idea: Is the foul sufficient to intervene or not? If they simply applied the matter on the basis of: either it is a foul or it is not a foul, the crisis would be over, but they still cling to the idea that the foul must be big enough to change the decision".
Gary Lineker concluded his statements by saying: "That is why the technology will remain a constant source of crises, and the only way out of this situation, as I have said a million times, is to implement a system that gives teams the right to request a review of the decision, which will happen in the end, because we cannot continue in this way".
