World champions Germany reached the Confederations Cup semifinals on Sunday with a 3-1 victory over a Cameroon side reduced to 10 men after confusion with a video review.

World football governing body FIFA is experimenting with video reviews at the tournament in Russia as it bids to fast-track the system for use at the 2018 World Cup. But the experiment is not going smoothly – a week before, fans were left unimpressed as goal reviews meant to deliver quick, clear decisions took a long time to produce a ruling.

In the quarterfinal, Germany were a goal up when referee Wilmar Roldan sent off a Cameroon defender more than three minutes after a high tackle on a German opponent and only after his own case of mistaken identity. It took Roldan, regarded as one of the world’s top officials, two visits to the touchline to consult video replays to arrive at his final decision. He first showed a yellow card, then a red card, to the wrong Cameroon player.

The referee sent off the wrong player after a video review. /CFP Photo 

When play finally got underway again, Timo Werner's diving header made it 2-0 to Germany in the 67th minute.

Vincent Aboubakar got the Cameroonians back into the game with 11 minutes remaining, but Werner netted his second of the match to make it 3-1.