SOCHI – Germany eased into the Confederations Cup semi-finals with a 3-1 win over Cameroon on Sunday as the VAR system was again thrust into the spotlight when the on-field official needed two reviews of an incident to reach the right verdict.
Colombian Wilmar Roldan consulted the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) after a reckless high challenge by Ernest Mabouka on Germany’s Emre Can saw Cameroon captain Sebastien Siani wrongfully receive a yellow card in a case of mistaken identity.
But even then Roldan did not come up with the right outcome as he simply switched the colour of Siani’s card to red.
It was only after Cameroon’s players insisted he review the incident again that he realised his error, rescinded Siani’s sending-off and instead flashed the red card to the correct culprit Mabouka.
Germany deservedly topped Group B to set up a last-four meeting with Mexico at the same venue on Thursday, after the first international goals for Kerem Demirbay and Timo Werner, who got two.
Vincent Aboubakar scored Cameroon’s consolation.
Confederations Cup semi-finals
Wednesday, June 28 – Kazan: Portugal v Chile (8pm SA time)
Thursday, June 29 – Sochi: Germany v Mexico (8pm SA time)
* Final to be played on July 2 in Saint Petersburg.