Before the start of the World Cup, Pierluigi Collina gave a presentation on what we can expect at the tournament.
Collina was talking about blocking, but in relation to violations that occur before the ball is in play.
FIFA changed the VAR protocol so that a goal could be disallowed if the block occurred, for example, before a corner was taken.
This doesn’t quite fall into that category as Germany had already taken the corner when Anton made contact with Gill.
But it still shows that this was the Italian’s area of focus.
However, the decision appears lenient and VAR recommending the referee review the incident came as a surprise.
In any case, it is the goalkeeper who goes to the German national team player, who has not changed his position. The contact between them was a consequence of this.
Was Gill really prevented from making a potential save? And was it really a clear and obvious mistake?
While the Premier League will focus more on blocking and ball retention next season, we shouldn’t expect VAR to intervene in anything similar.