FOXBOROUGH — After the heinousness of New England's 7-0 defeat at the hands of Atlanta United FC last Sept. 13 -- the match which, in all likelihood, sealed former manager Jay Heaps' fate -- New England Revolution supporters had started to vehemently abhor VAR, the technical assistance given referees to, ahem, "get the calls right."
Video Assistant Refereeing is basically, in layman's terms, the referee going under the hood in the NFL, or checking the monitor in basketball. Where things once went unnoticed, the eye of the mighty camera sees all, and in a matter of seconds, a decision is made.
In that match against the Five Stripes, both ex-Rev Xavier Kouassi (16th minute) and current Rev Antonio Delamea (38th minute) saw straight red cards from referee Baldomero Toledo after things he didn't originally see showed up in review.
In a matter of 22 minutes that night, New England went from having a slim chance of winning a road match -- it was 1-nil to AUFC when Kouassi got his marching orders -- to having no chance when Delamea received his early shower.
But twice now in '18, the VAR system has proven that yes, VAR doesn't necessarily have to go against the Revolution every single time.
A month ago, VAR confirmed a penalty against 10-man Montreal -- the Revs' next opponent, incidentally -- as the Impact clattered both Cristian Penilla and Teal Bunbury inside the penalty box.
The referee pointed to the spot on Bunbury's foul, and while Diego Fagundez stood over the football, a communication error in Gillette -- where have we heard that before? -- caused a five-minute delay before VAR finally confirmed what everyone else in the building had known from the outset. The penalty was cast iron, but the VAR official in the booth wanted another look at it.
Unfortunately, the delay iced Fagundez that night, Montreal 'keeper Evan Bush guessed right, and the match stayed as it was, a goal to nil, for the time being.
Fast forward to Saturday night.
Juan Agudelo had come up with a rather cheeky dispossession of Sporting Kansas City's Yohan Croizet near the midway line, spinning the midfielder around as the Revs' striker dribbled and charged in, getting within 20 yards of goal before he centered it to Fagundez.
And with SKC centerbacks Matt Besler and Ike Opara closing in on the Leominster resident, that left Bunbury clearly in an offside position. The ball came to him, the assistant referee raised his flag just as Bunbury turned (Besler reacted and went toward him) and slotted home.
HT: Teal Bunbury's goal stands following Video Review and @NERevolution lead 1-0 at the half. #NEvSKC https://t.co/31VLucFhtY
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 29, 2018