Kyle Walker has admitted England’s players are uncertain of the VAR process in World Cup matches and questioned whether the system should be in use at the tournament.
Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan waved away protests from manager Gareth Southgate and his team after Walker was adjudged to have fouled Tunisia forward Fakhreddine Ben Youssef to concede a first-half penalty.
Roldan’s decision was upheld upon review by the Video Assistant Referee — a team of four officials based in a studio away from the stadium — allowing Ferjani Sassi to cancel out Harry Kane’s 11th-minute opener.
However, Kane was clearly being manhandled at set pieces. Sassi rugby-tackled him in the first half, then the England captain was pushed over in a head-lock, but VAR did not intervene to give Roldan a second look at the challenges.
All 32 teams were given pre-tournament instructions by Fifa officials over how VAR would work and they specified that grappling at set-pieces was an offence they aimed to stamp out.
Walker told Standard Sport: “We’ve had a briefing, but what’s correct and what’s not? When do you ask for it? You don’t want to crowd the referee and say ‘VAR’ because then it is a yellow card.
“I think you just have to let the referees get on with it and let them take the decisions. They have got a hard enough game as it is without putting any more confusion in it.
“It is one of those things that I am going to have to take on the chin. Would it have been given in the Premier League? Probably not. In the World Cup it is probably a penalty.
“It is a learning curve for me. Next time I will probably head it away and ask questions afterwards!”