Tech trouble at the FIFA World Cup 2022! Japan goal adds fuel to VAR debate
England's fiercely disputed third goal in the 1966 World Cup final was often cited as the kind of incident VAR would erase from the game forever but Japan's victory over Spain on Thursday triggered a new "was it over the line?" debate.
Kaoru Mitoma's cutback for Ao Tanaka to give Japan a 2-1 lead was initially adjudged by South African referee Victor Gomes to have been from outside the field of play but the official reversed his decision after a lengthy VAR consultation.
TV and still pictures immediately swamped the internet apparently showing clear green grass between the ball and the line before winger Mitoma was able to play it back to his team mate.
FIFA issued a statement on Twitter late on Friday accompanied by several videos and graphics that said the officials had used the goal-line camera images to make the call.
"Other cameras may offer misleading images but on the evidence available, the whole of the ball was not out of play," it added.
The videos and graphics illustrated that while the laws require part of the ball to be on the line to remain in play, that does not mean it has to be touching the ground as the curvature of the ball overhanging the white stripe also counts.
As with England striker Geoff Hurst's strike at Wembley 56 years ago, the country which the decision affected most was Germany, who would have progressed to the last 16 if the Japan-Spain match had finished in a 1-1 draw but instead went home.
FIFA have invested heavily in VAR technology since introducing it at the World Cup four years ago in Russia.
The match ball now contains a chip that transmits data to the VAR operations room 500 times a second, while 12 cameras in each stadium track 29 points on the body of each player.
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