The Croatian Football Federation has sent an official letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, expressing disagreement with refereeing decisions and the misapplication of technology in Croatia’s Round of 32 World Cup match, which Portugal won 2-1 to advance to the round of 16.
In that match, Portugal’s equalizer came from a penalty kick awarded by referee Espen Eskas of Norway, who made the call only after being summoned to review the play by VAR.
Technology worked against Croatia a second time in the 13th minute of stoppage time, when Josko Gvardiol’s goal for what would have been 2-2 — and a potential trip to extra time — was disallowed. The decision was based on an alleged touch of the ball by Igor Matanović, which, in turn, was ruled to have left assist provider Mario Pašalić in an offside position.
“The Croatian Football Federation sent a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressing our deep disappointment and disagreement regarding the match against Portugal, not because of the referee’s decisions themselves, since those can always be debated after any match, but because of the process that led to those decisions,” said HNS spokesman Tomislav Pacak.
“To begin with, we believe the VAR protocol was completely misapplied on the penalty call for Portugal, and the referee should never have been called over to review the footage. More importantly, on Gvardiol’s equalizer, Pašalić was ruled offside, contrary to the rules and spirit of the game, based on a touch by Matanović that never actually occurred, simply because that’s what the sensor indicated.”
“We consider this a misuse of technology. We welcome technology in football, but we don’t believe this kind of application serves FIFA, the teams, or the fans well. We know this letter won’t ease the pain and disappointment felt by our supporters and players, but we believe it’s important to alert FIFA and request a detailed explanation of all these decisions,” Pacak concluded.
