FIFA: Smart technology confirms player touched ball before Croatia's equalizer

On July 3, in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16, Portugal defeated Croatia 2-1. In the injury time of the second half, Croatia scored a "leveling" goal, but due to Pasalic being offside, the goal was disallowed. After the match, FIFA officially explained the reason for the disallowed goal and the technical images provided by VAR via social media.

Image source | FIFA Media

FIFA officially stated: "Data provided by Connected Ball Technology, embedded in the Adidas Trionda – the official FIFA World Cup match ball – confirmed that Croatia's #20, Igor Matanović, touched the ball during his team's goal against Portugal, allowing the referee to accurately determine offside and disallow the goal."

"The Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensor embedded in the Trionda can detect any subtle ball contact, which is presented as a 'heartbeat waveform' in the broadcast, providing unprecedented data support for referees to help them make quick and accurate decisions."

AF's PC site is now live! Browse full news, comments, match details and stats on your computer. Visit: www.allfootballapp.com

All Comments (53)

🔥 Hot

Anna.W. 1123 👍

Today 13:26

Kuroko can’t see these.

TheFox707 255 👍

Today 13:25

It takes a real talent to ask such a question—and even more impressive is how many upvotes it’s gotten.

FrozenLion431 58 👍

Today 13:19

The fans of both sides are equally culpable—neither should criticize the other.

CaptainHacker_1356 45 👍

Today 13:17

It’s not even about whether he touched the ball—the question is how to interpret the ball hitting Visser’s back. You could call it passive contact, or you could call it an active clearance—entirely up to the referee’s discretion.

Dark-Cobra 30 👍

Today 13:23

Profits have started rolling in again—so if there’s an issue, please refute it with solid reasoning and evidence.

💬 Latest

diabcinry

Today 13:31

Crowtia robbed

View replies(2)

Dark-Tiger

The chip has admitted it; the players have admitted it; the “black fans” refuse to accept it.

xX_King.897

Actually, your concern is whether the issue stems from Vega touching the ball. That depends on the referee’s interpretation: if Vega was attempting a clearance but mistakenly directed the ball to Croatia, the play should stand—no offside call. However, if the ball merely deflected off Vega before reaching a Croatian player, then it constitutes gaining an advantage from an offside position. I lean toward the latter scenario: with an aerial ball, it’s difficult to argue that Vega had established clear possession before the error, and, more importantly, Vega’s contact with the ball did not involve a discernible, deliberate clearance action.

Kyle1942

Today 13:24

Ball contact occurs in an instant—I watched the oscilloscope playback speed, and it’s fully capable of capturing that moment. Adding just half a second more playback would clearly show it: Vega’s contact instant would produce a higher peak on the vertical axis. There’s no issue with horizontal-axis motion or mobile screen size—the playback speed is normal; simply stopping the footage at Vega’s contact point would suffice. I believe the referee made no mistake—adding half a second of playback would undoubtedly reduce controversy.

xX_Tiger_Xx

The point of contention is whether there was contact—if the Croatian player did not make contact, there is absolutely no offside.

CoderViper

Semi-automatic offside alerts mean assistant referees no longer raise their flags instantly; this rule has been in place for quite some time—offside is signaled only after the attacking play concludes.