Germany are out of the World Cup thanks to a controversial Japanese goal against Spain in the other game in Group E which has left pundits and experts baffled.
Spain went ahead early on against Japan through Alvaro Morata, while Germany set about hammering Costa Rica, a game the Germans won 4-2, despite a little second-half scare. If Spain won, too, then both them and Germany would have gone through.
However, another debate-sparking moment appears to have decided the fate of Group E concerning Ao Tanaka's winning goal for Japan against Spain in the 51st minute.
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Ritsu Doan had got Japan back level just after the half-time break before the controversial Tanaka winner. The ball was delivered from the right-hand side by the scorer of the first goal, Doan, before Kaoru Mitoma got to it and crossed it back across goal first time. The ball, however, appeared to have crossed the touchline before Mitoma's final cross, which Tanaka tapped home.
The goal underwent a lengthy VAR check but stood as the referees found the ball to not have crossed the touchline.
The referees on the pitch ruled that it had gone out of play and awarded a goal kick before a lengthy VAR check overturned the decision in yet another flashpoint moment for the tournament. It left the ITV pundits scratching their heads.
An incandescent Graeme Souness, who could not understand why replays had not been shown again, said: "Every television studio, every pundit, everyone who has an interest in this World Cup will be wanting to see the pictures.
"It looked to us, in real time, as if the ball went out. Why are FIFA not showing us something which is so controversial. Why are they not showing it to us? This is enormous. It's 45 minutes later. Why are they not showing it to us? Can you clear it up for us please?"
Gary Neville added: "We have moved on enormously in the last few years in respect of technology. We have got hundreds of cameras in these stadiums now.
"We can't miss anything. Yet we have gone backwards in terms of demonstrating clear decisions. That goal was disallowed by the officials on the pitch. Someone in the VAR studio has seen something which is absolutely categorical to say it should be overturned which we have not seen."
Watch the video of the goal below
The resident referee expert Peter Walton was brought in to clear up some of the controversy. While the ball appeared to be out to the naked eye, Walton argued that the curvature of the sphere meant some part of the ball could be hovering over some part of the line, rendering it still in play.
He also explained that the goal line technology cameras were used to pick up whether the ball had completely left the field of play.
"I’m seeing the same angles as you, there’s a misconception in law that just because the part of the ball that is on the floor is over the line is out - well it clearly isn’t because it’s the curve of the ball," Walton said.
"We see it often with corner kicks where it’s over the line but not quite over the line. In this instance, what the VAR is looking for is the evidence to suggest to the referee that the ball has clearly left the field of play and on the evidence that we’re seeing, he doesn’t have that in front of him.
"What I would suggest is the goal line technology, those cameras are being used for VAR to discover whether it has left the field of play so there are angles that will show that. If, however, a player’s boot or a player’s shin has gone over the top of the ball can’t see it clearly then the VAR will say to the referee: ‘I don’t have that evidence to give you, Mr Referee, stay with your on-field decision’.
"We’ll see what pictures FIFA show us but the law is specific, the ball is still in play if the curvature of the ball breaks that line - do we have that evidence to show?"
On why FIFA had not shown the images, Walton added: "Well that is very peculiar because at the start of this tournament for offside decisions was that those decisions would be shown automatically to the stadium so the people in the stadium could see it, that technology is still available for the people in the stadium.
"I’m at a miss why they haven’t showed it yet, they’ve got their reasons and only time will tell. I do think the evidence will appear sooner or later whether that ball hasn’t crossed the line."
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