FIFA President Gianni Infantino said "football history" was made by a successful test of video replays in France's 3-1 win over Italy in a friendly Thursday. Anthony Martial opened the scoring and Olivier Giroud and Layvin Kurzawa also found the target for France after Graziano Pelle equalized. While the test was labeled offline, Infantino cited an instance where video was examined when Italy protested for a perceived handball by Layvin Kurzawa following a header from Daniele De Rossi. "You could see that the referee stopped play for a couple of seconds and during those seconds the two referees in the truck verified that there was no penalty," Infantino told Rai TV. "We've seen football history here," Infantino added. "We're in 2016 so it's about time to try it." Infantino hopes "video assistant referees" will be used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Experiments are also being held in national club competitions this season, including Australia's A-League, the Bundesliga, the league and cups in Portugal, Major League Soccer, and Serie A. Video replay officiating would be restricted to decisions on goals being scored, penalties being awarded, players being sent off, and cases of mistaken identity. The only technology currently used in soccer is to rule on disputed goals. "Of course, we can't resolve every problem that comes up but let's see if we can give the refs a hand on the key situations, without interrupting play too much," Infantino said. In Eindhoven, the Netherlands suffered a fifth successive home defeat as its miserable form continued with a 2-1 defeat to fellow struggler Greece in another friendly. Liverpool forward Georginio Wijnaldum opened the scoring for the hosts on 13 minutes, converting a cross from Vincent Janssen. Captained by Wesley Sneijder, the Netherlands seemed in control until Kostas Mitroglou was left unmarked to head home on 29 minutes. Greece was organised in a rugged defensive display and waited for opportunities on the counter-attack. When one came on 73 minutes, it struck as Giannis Gianniotas lashed home on the volley after a mistake from goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet. Spain earned a World Cup qualifying boost by beating Belgium 2-0 in an international friendly, thanks to a David Silva double in Brussels. Both sides were on the rebound from disappointing Euro 2016 campaigns with new coaches Roberto Martinez for Belgium and Basque Jolen Lopotegui for Spain. Nani scored a brace as European champion Portugal warmed up for the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign by thumping minnow Gibraltar 5-0 in Porto. In the absence of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani took the center stage, opening the scoring on 27 minutes and adding a second 10 minutes into the second half. Joao Cancelo (73), Bernardo Silva (76) and Pepe (78) also added their names to the scoresheet. Japan lodges protest Japan has lodged a formal protest over a controversially disallowed goal which consigned it to a 2-1 World Cup qualifying defeat to UAE, an official said Friday. TV replays showed Takuma Asano's shot crossed the line in mid-air before being clawed away by goalkeeper Khalid Eisa, but the goal was missed by Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim. It turned out to be pivotal for Japan, who was trailing 2-1 at the time and stood to escape with a draw rather than a damaging home defeat. "We filed a protest... immediately after the game, with a claim that the shot should have been judged as a goal," Japan Football Association spokesman Futoshi Nagamatsu said. The Asian Football Confederation confirmed it had received a complaint which was also sent to FIFA, which oversees World Cup qualifiers. There was no immediate comment from the global body. Japan's coach Vahid Halilhodzic was left fuming about the Qatari ref, calling him "unacceptable," while Keisuke Honda wondered why there was no extra official watching the goal line. Competitions organized by European body UEFA have extra referees watching the goal, and World Cups and European Championships also employ goal line technology. — Agencies
