Controversies around VAR have been brewing in the horizon, but it truly spilled over on Thursday night when Spain lost to Japan 2-1, which led to the ouster of Germany from the group stages.
It was all about Japan’s second goal by Ao Tanaka in the 51st minute, the assist for which was delivered by Karou Mitoma after the ball had crossed the goalline. While pictures clearly showed that the ball had gone past the line, the VAR team argued that the entire curvature of the ball hadn’t.
The decision is comfortably the most contentious of this World Cup and given the consequence of it, one can safely say that it will find its place in the Hall of Fame of World Cup bloopers.
TOI takes a look at some of the biggest refereeing mistakes over the years that have changed the course of World Cup history.
GEOFF HURST’S GOAL IN 1966 FINAL
England’s only World Cup triumph till now will always be remembered for the third goal that was scored by Geoff Hurst in the extra-time of the final to give England a 3-2 lead. The ball, clearly, hadn’t crossed the line but referee Gottfried Dienst chose to stick with his call despite vociferous German protest. The goal killed Germany off and England went on to win 4-2.
HAND OF GOD (1986)
It is stuff of legends. With the quarterfinal match tied goalless till then, Maradona jumped in the air and used his hand to put the ball over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s head. The entire stadium saw it but for Tunisian referee Ali Ben Nasser, whose Wikipedia profile has a picture of him posing with an Argentina shirt with Maradona’s name on the back. Maradona, of course, followed up his “Hand of God” act with the greatest World Cup goal of all time that helped Argentina win the game 2-1 and consequently lift their second World Cup.
GERMAN GOALKEEPER’S HORRIBLE FOUL GOES UNNOTICED (1982)
France were at the top of the game and with the match reading 1-1 in normal time, French defender Patrick Battiston was set to put a brilliant lobbed pass from Michel Platini into the net. But German keeper Harald Schumacher barged into Battiston, injuring him. To everyone’s amazement, the referee Charles Corver gave a goal-kick in favour of Germany instead of a red card to Schumacher and penalty for France. The match went into tie-breaker and Schumacher turned the hero taking Germany to the final saving a couple of penalties.
SOUTH KOREA’S WIN AGAINST SPAIN (2002)
Spain were the overwhelming favourites in the quarters and they were clearly the better team against South Korea. But Spain could not convert their domination into victory as two clear goals were disallowed by referee Ahmed Al Ghandour of Egypt. While the first one was disallowed for ‘pushing in the area’, the second one was chalked off as the referee ruled that the ball had gone out of play before it actually did. The match went into a tiebreaker and Korea pulled off one of the biggest upsets of World Cup history.
FRANK LAMPARD’S DISALLOWED GOAL AGAINST GERMANY (2010)
There were reports on Friday that England fans revelled after Germany’s ouster due to Spain’s disallowed goal. It was a direct reminder of the Round of 16 match in South Africa, when England were making a rousing comeback after being 2-0 down against the Germans. With the score reading 2-1, a brilliant right-footer by Frank Lampard beat Manuel Neuer and the ball fell inside the goalline. But referee Jorge Larrionda chose to overlook it and Germany went on to win 4-1. Incidentally, it was after this incident that FIFA started exploring the possibility of Goalline Technology (GLT), which is in operation now.
