J apan’s famous 2-1 World Cup victory over Spain was shrouded in controversy and VAR mystery after many felt that their winning goal should have been disallowed.
Ao Tanaka netted for the Samarai Blue at Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium on Thursday night to seal another incredible comeback just three minutes after Ritsu Doan had struck shortly following the interval to cancel out Alvaro Morata’s early header.
As well as securing Japan’s progress through to the last-16 as Group E winners on another night of wild World Cup drama in Qatar, that result also condemned four-time winners Germany to a second successive group-stage exit despite their eventful 4-2 win over Costa Rica at Al Bayt Stadium.
The controversy over Japan’s winning goal arose due to the ball appearing to just go out of play over the byline before being sent back across the six-yard box by Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma and then bundled home by Fortuna Dusseldorf midfielder Tanaka. The assistant referee duly raised his flag and the goal was originally chalked off.
The initial replays and camera angles provided by the television broadcast led to widespread belief that the whole of the ball had indeed crossed the line and that the effort would be confirmed as ruled out, only for Mexican VAR Fernando Guerrero to then actually overturn the decision after a lengthy review.
Fifa’s apparent failure to provide any definitive images to ITV, according to host Mark Pougatch, showing conclusively that any part of the ball had stayed on the line only added to the sense of confusion and Germany despair, as a draw between Japan and Spain would have been enough to just spare their World Cup blushes.
“Got no doubt that VAR have seen the conclusive angle / evidence that we haven’t but why would FIFA not allow the host broadcaster to show Var footage,” pundit Gary Neville complained on Twitter. “In the PL we see it as it happens and have access to the pictures. Makes no sense and doesn’t help with transparency.”
Fans continued to furiously debate the decision across social media long after the final whistle had been blown, sharing a multitude of pictures and different camera angles to support their particular point of view.
According to the laws of football, the whole of the ball has to have crossed the whole of the line for it be ruled out of play.
And while the lower camera angles in this instance clearly showed that the whole of the base had gone out and left contact with the line, the crucial overhead bird’s-eye shots that eventually emerged proved that a tiny part of the curvature of the spherical ball had stayed hanging over it by mere millimeters, therefore justifying the VAR decision.
This can often be the case at corners, where takers may seem to have completely moved the ball out of the quadrant, sparking fan complaints, only for it to be permissible due to the tiniest part of it still hanging over the line.
The tightest of calls with the most major impact, jubilation for Japan and utter despair for Germany after another World Cup group-stage humiliation following their 2014 triumph in Brazil.
