Did The absence of VAR rob Bahrain of two points?

A dubious penalty decision allowed the United Arab Emirates to score the equalizer in the dying minutes of the game.

The first match of the much-awaited AFC Asian Cup, 2019 in front of the loud and proud home crowd and oh my, what a performance that was. The teams, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain went head-to-head and tried to match each other blow for blow.

Bahrain were the stronger of the two and deservedly took the lead with a multi-touch goal which crossed the line twice before being finally awarded by the additional assistant and then the referee blew to declare the goal and sent the minority Bahraini fans into a frenzy.

But, this was just the start of the blundersome third team’s messy evening. The referee and his assistants, a six-man team, had very little to do for most of the match as the West Asian teams were well behaved and left the contest to run itself.

Watch: United Arab Emirates 1-1 Bahrain highlights

But, their poor positioning and delayed decision-making just encouraged the trailing home team to pile up the pressure on the officials and make their performance a nervy and fumbling affair. But, that’s not all. It all culminated in the first controversy of the tournament in a botched penalty call, stripping away two important points from Bahrain.

In the 87th minute, the UAE had been awarded a corner after having forced the Bahraini defence on to the backfoot momentarily. From the ensuing set-piece, the ball landed on the hand of Bahrain’s Mohamed Mahroon, who was clearly just landing as the player he was marking had jumped early and was also landing down safely.

The referee, after a delay and following an uproar of the Emirati players, pointed to the spot. But, before doing that he looked around to his assistant and his additional assistant on the goalline, prompting the question, whose call was it?

It also raises the question that, was the crowd's roaring and the home team’s pressuring enough for a referee, assisted by two men in each half as well as his fourth official, to allow a ball hitting the hand in a natural position, to be declared a handball?

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Also, another seminal question that rears its head is why the AFC is not using Video Assistant Referees in the group stages, but are waiting for the quarterfinals to implement the technology? How will it be fair to the teams like Bahrain who had their points docked by a glaring blunder by an official who might have very well reversed his decision had he watched a replay.

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The video replays on the television screens of millions of football lovers across the world clearly showed why the penalty should not have been awarded and the referee is sure to have reversed his call, if he had the opportunity to calm his nerves, get away from the commotion and have a second look at things.

So, maybe it wasn’t only the fault of the referees for the game, but the systemic failure of an organization. Why VAR will not be implemented in the group stages, funding or otherwise is a question only the AFC can answer; but the teams who have and will face injustice will be the ones asking the question.