Finnish referee Lina Lehtovaara had difficult situations to judge at the World Cup. Two verdicts were changed through the video referee system.
Finnish top judge Lina Lehtovaara refereed his first match at the soccer World Cup early on Friday.
Lehtovaara shared justice in the match between Nigeria and Canada. The scores were tied with a 0–0 result, but Lehtovaara had enough work to do. He gave three yellow cards and one red card in the match.
The game wasn’t pretty, but there was drama for that too. There were enough kinky events, especially in the second episode, when Francisca Ordega poured by Christine Sinclair within sixteen at the very beginning of the period.
Lehtovaara did not award a penalty kick for the situation, but the situation was resolved moments later through the video referee system. In these games, the referees are rigged, and after video inspection, they announce their verdict to the entire stadium.
– After the inspection, the final decision is a penalty kick for reckless playing, Lehtovaara said.
However, the situation did not lead to a goal when Chiamaka Nnadozie rejected Sinclair’s attempt. If Sinclair succeeds in these Games, he will have finished in six different World Championships.
– I probably embarrass him, but I think he is one of the best young goalkeepers in the world. His tackling fired us up. It made us realize that we still have a game to play, Nigeria coach Randy Waldrum glowed.
Abioudun pigged out
In extra time, Lehtovaara faced another more difficult situation than Nigeria Deborah Abiodun your tackle was late Ashley Lawrence. Lehtovaara gave a yellow card, but a moment later this was also checked on video.
The delay showed that Abioudun trampled Lawrence with his buttons and the Nigerian took a shower prematurely because of the red card.
Sports expert Tuija Hyyrynen saw that Lehtovaara did his job really well. According to him, Lehtovaara’s long international experience was visible in the morning’s match.
– There were some hard tackles. In my opinion, the red was where red should be given. It was a dangerous tackle. All round great performance, as always. A convincing performance and the head lasts, Hyyrynen stated.
Hyyrynen was surprised that Nigeria was able to stretch to a draw in the match against Canada.
– When you looked at how the game started. Canada completely dominated the game and in the end Nigeria got into the game. Canada had a point and chances to decide the game, but that’s how surprises happen. Nigeria is indeed a tough team, Hyyrynen praised.
Nigeria broke
Canada, which went into the match as the pre-favorite, controlled the events of the game as expected. When Nigeria couldn’t get the ball, they settled for fouling. Nigeria broke 16 times and Canada six times.
– Of course we are upset. We didn’t get three points. However, we got one and took two away from the opponent, the Canadian coach Beverly Priestman stated.
Group B has been described as very even in the World Cup. With the draw, the fight for two further places is even fiercer, with two matches remaining in the group. For example, Australia will face Nigeria next. With a win, Australia can already secure their place in the group of 16.