MLS chief discusses Premier League VAR crisis as Howard Webb faces major rescue
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber couldn't hide his glee at the situation of refereeing in the Premier League, having lost top officiating chief Howard Webb last year.
Webb, who was instrumental in MLS's refereeing overhaul, left the North American League last year in order to return to the Premier League. The man in the middle at the 2018 World Cup Final has his work cut out for him, as evidenced by a number of high-profile errors - notably Brentford's equaliser against Arsenal being allowed despite Christian Norgaard standing in an offside position.
Days after that incident, Lee Mason stepped down from the PGMOL, and Webb will be the man tasked with revamping the VAR system in the English game.
He won't get too much sympathy from Garber, however, who laughed at the prospect of a referee leaving MLS - a league very much in its' infancy - in order to rescue the prestigious Premier League.
Speaking to Mirror Football, Garber said: "Can you imagine that? How different is that to where we were, man?! Howard, I love Howard Webb. He was great for us, the right time in his personal life to come in and help launch the PRO [Professional Referees Organisation], and be at the cutting edge of what VAR is.
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"If not for Howard, we wouldn't be where we are today. You take a guy off the field who refereed the World Cup Final and have him come in to the US to help grow our officiating business, speaks to the fact we punch above our weight. I love the fact he left the US to go to England. It warms my heart.
Howard Webb left MLS for the PGMOL last year"Nobody complains about the officials in MLS the way they used to, and they don't complain about officials in MLS as much as they do in other leagues around the world. That is a credit to Howard and the people around PRO."
Garber's humble brag is warranted and supported by the vast majority of MLS fans. VAR errors in the league are hard to come by and it's seldom games are overshadowed by poor refereeing calls.
The commissioner believes there's a very simple reason for this - America's advancements in technology compared to the rest of the world. He added: "We're a technology country, right? Technology is a part of who we are. VAR at its core is a technological system.
"FIFA has been embracing it, it used to be the case that if you wanted to do things, you couldn't do it because of the governing bodies. That really doesn't exist today. IFAB has become much more modernised, I'm surprised and pleased with that, it's not perfect for a league that isn't used to having others tell us what to do, certainly the NBA, NFL, baseball and hockey doesn't have to worry about that!
"It's unique, they're more open-minded. With what FIFA did with how they changed, you look at added time, we experimented with that in MLS NXT PRO and FIFA just came right out at the World Cup, the average added time was 12 minutes. That's remarkable.
"I hate time-wasting, I think it's cheating the fan. Most of the people in the sport feel the same way, FIFA and IFAB made some decisions, that's to their credit, I think we'll see more of that going forward."
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