A late VAR decision to disallow Croatia's equalizer against Portugal in the World Cup has ended the team's tournament hopes and extended Cristiano Ronaldo's participation.
The controversial call came in the dramatic finale of the match, with Croatia denied a last-gasp equalizer. The decision centered on whether a Croatian player, Matanovic, had touched the ball during the build-up.
Football has adopted technology similar to the "Snickometer" used in cricket to aid officials. The Adidas Trionda match ball for the World Cup contains a microchip that can detect when the ball has been touched, sending precise data to the video assistant referee in real time. This technology was also used in the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 European Championship.
Croatia's manager, Zlatko Dalic, expressed his dissatisfaction with the officiating after the match, stating, "The refereeing was very bad." He added that such decisions "kill emotions" and "take the joy out of football," suggesting that VAR has gone too far.
Portugal's manager, Roberto Martinez, acknowledged the difficulty of the match but defended the decision, noting that "The balls now have a chip and the sensor shows the ball was touched."
During the broadcast, former England defender Matt Upson initially expressed uncertainty in real time about whether Matanovic had touched the ball, observing that the spin on the ball did not appear to change. However, a former Premier League assistant referee, Darren Cann, messaged the BBC's coverage team to confirm that the offside call stood because the ball was deflected by a defender and not deliberately played. Cann stated that the technology "100% proves that he touched it with the flick-on."