The strange reason why Croatia’s 103rd-minute goal against Portugal was called offside
Tonight, Croatia faced one of the strangest decisions in World Cup history during their match against Portugal, and here’s what happened.
Led by Luka Modrić, Croatia lost 2-1 to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in a crucial game for a spot in the Round of 16. Croatia took the lead in the 53rd minute with a great goal from Ivan Perišić and played well for most of the match.
Ronaldo had a goal called off for a very close offside, but then Portugal got a penalty after a foul on Renato Veiga. Ronaldo, who had never scored a knock-out goal in his long World Cup career, stepped up and scored to make it 1-1.
Later, Ronaldo was taken off to boos from the crowd, who were upset with coach Roberto Martinez’s choice. The substitute, Gonçalo Ramos, ended up scoring the winning goal in the 94th minute.
In the 103rd minute, Joško Gvardiol seemed to score a late equalizer for Croatia. But the goal was ruled offside because two players involved earlier in the play, Igor Matanović and Mario Pašalić, were offside.
Here’s where it gets confusing: as the ball was crossed in, Matanović looked like he missed his header, and the ball bounced off Portugal’s Veiga and then to Pašalić, who set up Gvardiol’s goal. If Matanović never touched the ball, Pašalić wouldn’t have been offside. But if Matanović did touch it, then Pašalić was offside when he controlled the ball.
Norwegian referee Espen Eskas went to the VAR screen to review the play, but none of the video angles clearly showed if Matanović touched the ball or not. At first, it seemed Eskas thought there was enough proof of a touch, which meant the offside call stood and Croatia’s goal was disallowed.
The explanation given is that the ball has a sensor inside that detects even the smallest touch, which confirmed Matanović’s involvement. This high-tech detail gave the referees solid proof to rule the goal offside.
Many fans were upset and confused online. Some wondered why the referee even needed to watch the video if the sensor gave a clear answer. Others asked if the sensor really exists.
It turns out the referee was also asked to check whether Portugal’s Veiga deliberately played the ball after it bounced off his back; if he had, then no offside should be called.
This controversial moment is sure to spark a lot of debate. FIFA will likely explain everything in detail soon to clear up why this decision was made.