It was said that video refs would ruin football, but the technology has defied the critics with a sterling performance at the World Cup

The video assistant referee (VAR) has managed to get through over a week of action in Russia without any of the concerns around it being justified. Games being overly delayed, referees not being adequately trained in the system, and the potential for greater mistakes were all loudly predicted as the panic of its rollout gathered steam in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup.

Instead, the system has proven to be the fastest ...