Tunisia-France (1:0): why did VAR cancel Antoine Griezmann’s goal?

Misunderstanding defeated all participants of the meeting Tunisia-France (1:0). While the Blues thought they had pulled through with a stoppage-time goal from Antoine Griezmann, there was an unexpected turn towards the end of the match. Then we play in the 98th minute of the game, Didier Deschamps’ men, the authors of a very pale match, have just celebrated the goal of an Atlético de Madrid player, and New Zealand referee Matthew Conger whistles three blows on the move, which means the end of the match. We think the case is closed and we have witnessed an explosion of pride for the French team at this World Cup.

But the video referee decides otherwise and asks the 44-year-old referee to check the action that led to this goal. Within one or two minutes, Conger reviews the action and stops, in particular, at the placement of number 7 “blue”. The latter is offside when Aurélien Chuameni crosses him. If Griezmann doesn’t touch the ball, unlike Tunisian defender Talbi who heads it in his direction, Conger believes Griezmann will use his position early in the game to stand out and then equalize.

“He is in an offside position at the start of the game, he comes back and seems to be using his starting position to score a goal,” explains Bruno Derrien, former international referee and consultant for New World TV. At first I had doubts. Shortly before this, the Tunisians called a foul in air contact, so I thought that the VAR system was used for this. But when we look at the images, we see that Griezmann is ahead. The referee believes that in the center he influences the game and, in particular, the Tunisian defender. It’s always a matter of interpretation. Also, no one says anything after the fact because the images are clear. »

“I wasn’t going to play in the center”

The offside law is clear: it is an offside offense if “a player returning from an offside position or in an offside position is in the path of an opponent and interferes with the opponent’s movement towards the ball, this offense is considered offside, if it affects the opponent’s ability to play or challenge for the ball (in this case, Griezmann at Talby); if a player hinders and impedes the advance of an opponent (for example, if he blocks an opponent), the infringement shall be penalized in accordance with Law 12.” It is clear that the referee believes that the Tunisian defender would not have missed with a header if Griezmann had not been offside earlier.

After the meeting, Griezmann did not deny that he was offside when the ball bounced off Chuameni’s foot, but clarified that he did not want to argue about the ball. “In the center I’m offside. But it does not matter. I told him (the referee) that I was not going to play in the center, but the defender misses his gesture, and therefore I take him back, ”Griezmann said after the meeting at TF1. It is difficult to play such matches when you qualified, there were many changes in the team. The most important thing is the upcoming match. »

This is not the first time that VAR has intervened after the referee signals the end of the match. In October 2022, Clément Turpin awarded a penalty to Atlético de Madrid against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League after being hit by the Germans in the penalty area when he meant the match was over. In September 2020, a similar incident occurred in the Premier League when Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) scored a penalty against Brighton despite the final whistle blowing seconds before.