MOSCOW: FIFA refereeing bosses celebrated what they described as a scandal-free World Cup for match officials on Friday, saying that the video replay system had helped achieve an accuracy rate of 99.3 percent for decisions in the group stage. “After 48 games, we haven’t had a single scandal, and that’s very important,” FIFA’s director of refereeing, Massimo Busacca, told reporters. The World Cup in Russia is the first to use Video Assistant Referees (VARs) who monitor the game on television screens and communicate with the pitch official. The VARs check decisions which could potentially change the outcome of a game and, if they feel the pitch referee has made the wrong call, suggest he review the incident on a pitchside monitor. Published in Daily Times, June 30th 2018.