Captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria John Obi Mikel has suggested that the newly introduced Video Assistant Referee works in favour of big countries at the expense of the small countries.
VAR as the technology is popularly referred to worked against Nigeria in the 1-2 loss against Argentina which eliminated them from the World Cup in Russia.
Mikel heavily protested the decision of referee Cuneyt Cakir not to offer Nigeria a second penalty during the game after Marcos Rojo handled the ball in the box. Nigeria would have been presented with a chance to go 2-1 up via the spot if it was awarded.
In an interview with the electronic version of Nigerian sports news outlet Completesports, Mikel was asked about his opinion about the technology and the captain suggested it has favoured the big teams more.
CS: What do you think about the VAR system?
Mikel – (Laughs) Ar?rrrgh, I don’t want to make comment about it. Big country, I don’t know. Small country? I don’t want to go there
CS: You think it has something do do with being a small country?
Mikel – I have nothing to say about it. You can do that mathematics yourself. That’s all I can say