Team USA vs Australia women's soccer VAR controversy leads to opposing coach punishment at Olympics

Chaos broke out late in the first half of Wednesday's match between the United States women's national team and Australia at the 2024 Olympics , as VAR technology appeared to temporarily stop working. Australia's head coach was given a yellow card for yelling at a referee during the incident.

With officials slow to begin a review of USWNT star Trinity Rodman's goal for potential offside, Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson fumed at everyone in his orbit. His antics ultimately ended in a booking.

NBC commentators speculated during the delay that VAR, the technology used to double check referee decisions, had stopped working. In any case, VAR was eventually back up and running, and referees confirmed Rodman's goal to put Team USA up 1-0.

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But because of the drawn out process, the first half concluded with a whopping 10 minutes of stoppage time. Team USA went on to win 2-1.

Rodman , Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson have started the 2024 Olympics in fantastic form. Through Rodman's point blank finish to open the scoring against Australia, Team USA made it three times in its first three Olympic appearances this summer that it has held a halftime lead.

The USWNT had already clinched advancement to the knockout rounds before wrapping up the group phase against Australia. However, first place in Group B remained up for grabs, adding urgency to the contest.

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And even if there wasn't anything to play for, head coach Emma Hayes, ever a perfectionist, would have demanded improvement.

Following the USWNT's previous victory over Germany, Hayes had said: "I thought that we were our biggest problem. There's still things that irritate me about us, but that's for me to fix."

That said, Hayes has generally appreciate the efforts of her players, who have needed to adjust to her coaching style in a short period of time. Hayes took over in May after leaving Chelsea, which limited how much the Americans. could train before the Olympics.

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In fact, Hayes gave Team USA a day and a half off between the Germany and Australia games so players could explore France .

There was little to suggest that the brief break from training carried any negative effects. The USWNT blitzed Australia in the early exchanges and created far more chances en route to its victory.