Morocco Debuts Revolutionary Green Card in U20 World Cup Upset

A penalty canceled. In the 78th minute of the match against Spain counting for the first day of the U20 World Cup, in Chile, Mohamed Ouahbi, the coach of Morocco used, for the first time, the green card to appeal to the VAR. The central referee of the match had just whistled a penalty for an alleged foul by a Moroccan defender on a Spanish player in his area. The whistle-blower was forced to review the images. After long seconds of reviewing the images, the referee canceled the penalty and gave a yellow card to the Spanish player for simulation.

This is the first time the green card has been brandished by a coach. It is also up to the coach of a team to use it for situations that could require the use of the VAR. In case of opposition to a decision of the referee on a possible penalty, red card, or goal scored or disallowed, he can use this green card to request a video review with the VAR. And the use of this new card is limited to a maximum of two times per match.