This World Cup has seen one controversy after another. Referring has been inconsistent and many say that VAR has really not served its purpose.
The latest call is in the match between Portugal and Croatia where Croatia were denied a goal in the 113 th minute of the game resulting in them being knocked out. A lot of criticism has come on the social media over this. Many are saying the goal should have been allowed.
It all started with Ivan Perisic playing a deep volley from the left flank into the box and on its route Igor Matanovic attempted to head it. At that moment everybody thought Matanovic had missed and Mario Pasalic who was in an offside position brought the ball down and passed it to Gvardiol who scored.
Now let us go back to when the ball crossed Matanovic’s head. It was clear that Pasalic was in an offside position. No doubts there. So what the referee and the VAR had to find out was whether Matnovic touched the ball or not. Only if he had touched the ball then Pasalic’s offside will stand. It is here that the latest ‘Connected Ball Technology’ was used.
So what is the Connect Ball Technology. It is as similar to the snicko-meter in cricket where umpires need to see if a batsman had edged a ball or not. Similarly every ball used in this World Cup has a chip embedded in it which will show a spike in the graph when the ball makes contact. That evidence has been put out by the FIFA which looks conclusive.
So Matanovic indeed had contact with the ball when Pasalic was in an offside position. But matters do not end there. What makes it more interesting is that the ball seemed to have made contact with a Portugal defender before it reaches Pasalic. So does the offside still stand? Unfortunately it does.
As per Rule 11 of official football rules a player must deliberately play the ball to reset the offside phase. But here the Veiga the Portuguese defender was seen ducking to avoid the ball which means he was not trying to play it but it made contact unintentionally. Hence the offside stays and no goal allowed. That is why the referee was called to the side to examine it on the screen.
Now this may not seem as straightforward a decision as many of you think. But FIFA clearly went by the rules here and disallowed the goal. It is sad because Croatia had played their hearts out and Luka Mordic an absolute icon of the game will have to bow out in such a fashion. But that is football for you.
Naveen Nair for The News Monk.
