A key refereeing situation in the 56th minute of the 4th-round First MFL match between FC Shkëndija Tetovo and FC Struga Trim & Lum, before the visiting team scored the equaliser to make it 1:1.
Namely, the referee makes an incorrect assessment and fails to recognise an obvious foul by the home team's defender, who commits a foul by stepping on the visiting team's opposing attacker without playing the ball. Following a proper check in accordance with the VAR protocol, the referee is called to an on-field review (OFR). After reviewing the footage, the referee correctly awards a penalty to the visiting team.
The foul involving the defender stepping on the opponent is obvious and fully consistent with the VAR intervention threshold, as well as with the criterion applied by the referee throughout the match, during which such identical fouls were sanctioned.
From a technical refereeing perspective, the referee is not well positioned and does not have a full view of the situation, because in situations near the penalty-area line he should open his field of vision to the left along his diagonal in order to recognise such fouls.
The second key situation occurred in the 84th minute, when the referee was excellently positioned and correctly assessed a foul by the visiting team's attacker on FC Shkëndija Tetovo's attacker. In accordance with the criterion, the foul is punishable because the defender reacts late, misses the ball and brings down the opposing attacker by committing a foul. A correct refereeing decision by the referee, which was also confirmed by VAR.
