Australia captain Mile Jedinak put on a brave face but admitted the frustration was palpable a day after the Socceroos' World Cup campaign was compounded by a historic but controversial VAR decision.
Making its World Cup debut at Russia 2018, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is the latest technological measure introduced into the 'beautiful game' in a bid to eliminate the grey areas surrounding key refereeing decisions.
But Australia were beaten 2-1 by France after finding themselves on the wrong end of Uruguayan referee Andres Cunha's decision to award the French a penalty just before the hour mark.
Cunha appeared to wave play on after a tackle by Australia defender Josh Risdon brought down Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann early in the second half.
After being informed by the assistant referee that the incident merited a review, he consulted video footage of the incident before pointing to the penalty spot.
Griezmann went on to score the first VAR-assisted goal in World Cup history. Jedinak pulled the Socceroos back into the game with a penalty of his own but an 81st-minute Aziz Behich own goal gave France a scrappy victory.
- 'Hard done by' -
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But Aston Villa midfielder Jedinak admitted: "If I said I wasn't frustrated by this decision, I wouldn't be lying." He added: "But we can't change it now. The score says 2-1, penalty to Griezmann and yellow card for Risdon. It is what it is."
"Even with the video (VAR), decisions are still open to interpretation. The referee is alerted, but in the end it's him who decides."
Specifically, when it comes to penalty decisions, FIFA's rules state: "The role of the VAR is to ensure that no clearly wrong decisions are made in conjunction with the award or non-award of a penalty kick."
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