Rivers United Loss to USM Alger Jeopardized by VAR Controversy

VAR was not used in River United vs USM Alger clash: CAF stated the reason

The Rivers United vs USM Alger Confederations Cup match has been in the news after a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) scrutinization. The technology was not used in the match, which resulted in certain eyebrows being raised. However, CAF (Confederation of African Football) has recently come out and enlisted the reasons behind the mishap. The governing body reportedly stated –

“For the last few days, CAF has been negotiating with Algerian Authorities to release the VAR equipment that has been kept by Authorities at the entry Port in Oran, Algeria since Wednesday morning”. CAF has further asserted – “Regrettably, the VAR equipment was only released at 19h30 today (the match-day), making it impossible to drive distance between Oran and Algiers and make it on time”.

It can be inferred from the statement of the African Football hierarchy that it was in the plans to use the VAR for the all-important second leg quarterfinal clash of the Confederations Cup between United and USM, but the failure to make the equipment available on time resulted in it not being used on the day.

Rivers United knocked out of the CAF Confederation Cup after its defeat to USM Alger

Despite winning the first leg of the Confederations Cup quarterfinal against USM Alger at home by a scoreline of 1-0, Rivers United delivered a rather underwhelming performance in the second leg of the tie which resulted in them being knocked out of the competition.

The visitors suffered a 2-0 loss on the day as they looked out of ideas on the pitch amidst a good all-around performance from the hosts USM Alger on the day. The aggregate score across the two legs was 2-1 in USM’s favor as they progressed to the semi-final stage.

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