CARSON, Calif. – Sigi Schmid is ready for the beginning of Major League Soccer’s Video Review era this week.
Major League Soccer will unveil Video Review technology this week and implement it throughout the remainder of the season. The Video Review will be handled by the Video Assistant Referee who’s job it is to check for possible clear errors and missed incidents in four specific incidents: goals, penalty kicks, straight red cards, and cases of mistaken identity.
The LA Galaxy head coach is quite familiar with the technology, having served as a consultant with the league on the matter before taking the job at StubHub Center last week. As the league prepares to use Video Review in league matches for the first time, Schmid is eagerly anticipating the technology.
“I know some people are against it, but I’m a fan of it. People should understand that the reason it’s going in midseason is that the timing was the normal FIFA calendar. The thing that’s good is that it gave MLS six months of the season to bone up on it. If you saw VAR used in the Confederations Cup, they had a few hiccups with it because they really didn’t have the learning curve that MLS has,” Schmid told reporters. “Before I came here, I was helping [Howard Webb] on a consulting basis, and that was one of the things I was doing.
“Howard Webb has done a great job, and the first real VAR that he’s doing is probably about the 20th game he’s done where as in the Confederations Cup, the guy was probably doing his second or third game. From that standpoint, it’s better. To get the important calls right is worthwhile.”
Although there is some worry in the soccer community that Video Review will lead to extended stoppages like in the NFL, Schmid assures fans that there won't be many disruptions.
"The [VAR] is reviewing 20 or 30 plays, but there is maybe only one that requires a stoppage in play. It always rests with the referee on the field," Schmid said. " When they factored in the number of reviews over a number of games, it was .7 per game. I don’t want fans to think that there will be a lot of stoppages."
