Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol thought he had levelled the scores at 2-2 as fans went into frenzy in the clash between Croatia and Portugal on Friday morning.
However, the goal was ruled out by waveform technology named Snicko which is inside the ball and allows precise data to be immediately sent to VAR in real time.
The goal was ruled out because Croatia’s Mario Pašalić was standing in an offside position when the ball touched his hair, a decision that went viral online.
FIFA back the call
However, despite the outrage, FIFA defended the call as they backed Snicko technology and stated that they went by the rules of the game.
"According to the data provided by Connected Ball Technology housed within the @adidasfootball Trionda, the official match ball of the @FIFAWorldCup, it was proven that contact was made by Croatia's #20 Igor Matanović in the build up to the goal against Portugal, allowing the referee to correctly determine offside and disallow the goal.
"IMU sensors housed within the Trionda ball are capable of determining any slight contact, displayed to viewers in the broadcast as a 'heartbeat graphic', and allowing officials an unprecedented level of data to make fast, accurate decisions."
Croatia manager Zlatko Dalić was furious after the loss and stated that VAR had gone too far.
“It kills the emotions. It kills everything within you,” Dalić said, per TNT Sports. “It kills what you are experiencing and then brings you back to the beginning.
“It’s not easy to deal with all of this. Football should be fair, and the decisions should be such, but we’ve gone on too far about VAR.”