LONDON, May 13 — Pep Guardiola says teams must “do better” if they want to avoid VAR controversies.

Guardiola believes his Manchester City side have been on the wrong end of replay calls in the past and is still annoyed by decisions that went against his team in their FA Cup final defeats of 2024 and 2025.

VAR made headlines again after relegation-threatened West Ham were denied a stoppage-time equaliser against title-chasing Arsenal following a lengthy review last Sunday, with the Gunners’ 1-0 win leaving the Premier League leaders five points clear of second-placed City.

But City manager Guardiola said players had it within their power to take VAR out of the equation.

“We lost the two finals of the FA Cup because the referees didn’t do their jobs they should do, even the VAR,” said Guardiola.

“When this happens it is because we have to do better, not the referees or VAR.”

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss added: “I never trust anything since I arrived a long time ago. Always I learned you have to do it better, do it better, be in a position to do it better because you blame yourself with what you have to do, because (VAR) is a flip of a coin.”

City were beaten 2-1 by rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final two years ago, with Guardiola believing his side could have had two penalties in the game following separate challenges on Erling Haaland by Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo.

And there was further controversy at Wembley during City’s shock defeat by Crystal Palace in last season’s final.

Dean Henderson was one of Palace’s heroes, the goalkeeper saving a penalty, but the outcome might have been different had he been sent off for handling outside his area.

But Guardiola insisted he is not dwelling on that match ahead of facing Palace in the Premier League on Wednesday, where a win for City would cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table to two points.

“You have to do better and better for yourself, and that is focusing on Crystal Palace for us,” said Guardiola.

“Of course it is not in our hands in the Premier League. Always I say to the players, ‘Do it, do it, do it better’.

“I always learned that when you lose the focus, you are in a dangerous situation.

“The only thing we can do is do it better, that is only in your control.” — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — National attacking midfielder Paulo Josue believes the 2026 Asean Fifa Cup presents the best platform for Harimau Malaya to end the country’s long wait for silverware when the tournament takes place from September 21 to October 6.

Josue is optimistic that the national squad have the ability to provide stiff competition against any team in Southeast Asia based on the performances previously displayed by the side against regional opponents.

“I think it’s a great tournament and a great chance for Malaysia to lift some trophy. We know we can compete against the teams in Southeast Asia quite well. We already proved it before. Struggle a little bit but I think definitely the team can do something for the national team against these national teams.

“So we just need to be ready, hope that coach Peter Cklamovski can manage to bring all the best players of the country at the moment, and then we can go there and try to achieve this kind of thing and it’d be great,” he said after the AllStar Legends press conference here today.

Josue said thorough preparations must be carried out early to ensure the national squad are fully prepared to face the major challenge in October.

He also hoped Harimau Malaya head coach Peter Cklamovski would be able to assemble the country’s best players to spearhead Malaysia’s challenge.

Earlier, Malaysia were drawn alongside Thailand for the group stage competition, scheduled to take place from July 24 to Aug 26.

The Group B line-up was announced during the official draw ceremony of the tournament held in Jakarta today.

Meanwhile, Vietnam have been placed in Group A alongside Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia and the winners of the playoff match between Brunei and Timor-Leste. — Bernama