K-League 'Again' Bad Trial Controversy Conclusions On 'Wrong PK Decision' Despite VAR

*This content was translated by AI.

Another critical misjudgment came out in the professional soccer K-League. It is the first time in the opening two rounds. Even after a video review, the referee made the wrong decision. The controversy over the misjudgment, which shook the K-League last season, is also unusual from the beginning of this season.

According to the soccer community and Incheon United clubs on the 12th, the Korea Football Association held a referee evaluation meeting on the 10th and concluded the judgment of referee Choi Hyun-jae, who declared a penalty in the 5th minute of the second half against Gwangju FC and Incheon held at Gwangju World Cup Stadium on the 7th.

The situation was like this. With the two teams facing 1-1, politicians (Incheon) and Park Jung-in (Gwangju) collided in the Incheon penalty box. It was a scene where a politician hit Park Jung-in's shin with a stud (football bottom). However, it could not be concluded as a politician's foul on a slow screen. The politician first gained ownership of the ball by clearing it with his heel, and fortunately, the direct stud price was also avoided by folding his feet momentarily. Rather, there was a clash between the bodies in the situation where the politician had ball ownership, but rather, the politician's foul was declared.

At the time, referee Choi even checked the play himself through field reviews that had been communicated with VAR, but maintained the first decision with "penalties and warning measures following a politician's kicking foul." In the process, Incheon coach Chung Hyuk was also warned for protesting against the referee. In the end, Incheon lost the lead again by allowing Shin Chang-moo to score a PK, and lost to Gwangju by a score of 2-3 on the day.

After the game, the Incheon club asked the Korea Football Association whether the PK decision was the right decision at the time, and concluded "misjudgment" at a referee's evaluation meeting with club officials in person. In the meantime, the Korea Football Association has allowed club officials to observe the meeting in person from this year as the "controversy over communication" has intensified due to the failure to reply to official official letters from clubs related to the referee's decision. A referee official is said to have apologized to the Incheon club for the apparent misjudgment.

The problem is that this is not the only one. Coincidentally, Incheon also suffered from a dubious decision in the match against FC Seoul held at the Incheon Football Stadium on the 28th of last month. In a situation where they were facing 0-0, even though Song Min-gyu (Seoul) pushed Kim Myung-soon (Incheon) from behind in the penalty box, the PK was not declared. At that time, on the contrary, the situation ended without even a video review. The Incheon club did not even ask the Korea Football Association about the decision against Seoul, but after another unfair decision related to PK was repeated in the match against Gwangju, it eventually asked the Korea Football Association to reconfirm the decision in the opening two games and received a misjudgment conclusion and apology.

Of course, there can be no misjudgment during the game, but it is questionable whether a misjudgment should still be accepted as a "part of football" even after a video review introduced to minimize misjudgment, or even a misjudgment without using it when a video review is needed. The Korea Football Association, which suffered from measles last season, promised several changes by announcing referee policies ahead of the opening of the new season. However, clubs and fans who would have expected a "change" are bound to be disappointed from the beginning of the season.

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*This content was translated by AI.