Sydney FC coach Frank Farina wants video technology to be introduced to the sport after his side was on the wrong end of a refereeing blunder.
Sydney FC coach Frank Farina wants video technology to be introduced to the sport after his side was on the wrong end of a refereeing blunder.
The Sky Blues suffered a 1-0 loss to the Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday, which was marred by a missed offside call in the seventh minute.
The Glory’s Ryo Nagai was knocked down by Sydney goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic in the penalty area, but replays showed the Japanese winger was offside when team-mate Jamie Maclaren crossed the ball.
Perth midfielder Steven McGarry converted the resulting penalty, leaving Farina and the Sydney players fuming.
“A foul’s a foul, but I thought it was offside,” Farina said.
“It’s days like this you wish you were playing rugby league or rugby union where those things won’t happen, but unfortunately in our game it does.
“I’ve always been an advocate for (video technology), but the reality is it’s probably not going to happen for a long time.
“Certainly it’s not going to disrupt the game any more than when a goal is scored. There’s time to do that and if you have that, those things don’t happen.
“We are a massive business and a massive industry at the moment where a lot of money is poured into not only the league but into teams.
“If you’re going to have people that are semi-professional determining the results of this massive industry where a lot of money is being spent, that for me is wrong.
“It’s sad and it has to be looked at. People are going to say: ‘He’s bitching and trying to take the focus off his team losing’. But I’m sure there are other coaches who agree it’s not good enough.”
But Glory coach Alistair Edwards denied there was an urgent need for a video referee.
“You saw in the Adelaide (v Wanderers) game (on Friday night) there was a handball in the middle of the park and Western Sydney broke and scored a goal,” Edwards said.
“Even with the technology, some decisions go with and some against, but at the end of the day it really does even itself out.”
Farina remained upbeat about Sydney’s prospects this season despite his team suffering a third loss in a row after just four rounds.
“We had five or six real good chances, but the finishing was poor and you can’t expect to do that and win games,” Farina said.
“This by far was a very improved performance and – apart from the lack of goals – if we play like this consistently, we’ll win a lot more games than we lose.”
