The Croatian Football Federation (HNS) has sent a formal letter to FIFA to express its dissatisfaction with the officiating in the match against Portugal, which took place last Friday in Toronto. The HNS claims there were several controversial decisions, particularly focusing on what it considers to be an incorrect application of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology. It is worth noting that Croatia was eliminated from the World Cup in the Round of 16 after a goal by Joško Gvardiol was disallowed late in the match. The decision, made by Norwegian referee Espen Eskas, was based on FIFA’s information that a sensor inside the ball detected contact with Igor Matanovic’s hair, resulting in an offside. Tomislav Pacak, spokesperson for the HNS, detailed the contents of the complaint sent to FIFA President Gianni Infantino in statements reported by Net.hr: ‘The Croatian Football Federation sent a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, in which we expressed our deep disappointment and disagreement regarding the match with Portugal, not because of the refereeing decisions themselves, as those can be discussed after any game, but due to the process that led to those decisions.’ The spokesperson elaborated on the two most contested incidents by the Croatian Federation, criticizing both the VAR intervention and the use of the sensor technology in the ball: ‘To begin with, we believe that in the penalty awarded to Portugal, the VAR protocol was applied completely incorrectly, and the referee should not have been called to review the footage. More importantly, in Gvardiol’s equalizing goal, an offside was called on Pasalic, contradicting the rules of football and the spirit of the game, due to an alleged touch on the ball by Matanovic that, in our opinion, did not occur, simply because the sensor indicated it,’ he stated. The HNS concludes by stating that this is an ‘abuse of technology’ and requests detailed clarifications from FIFA: ‘We consider this an abuse of technology, which we welcome in football, but we believe that this application is not useful for either FIFA, the teams, or football fans. We know that our letter will not lessen the pain and disappointment of the fans and players, but we think it is important to alert FIFA and request a detailed justification of all decisions,’ concluded Tomislav Pacak.
Read more in Serie A news. and related tags: The HNS, Video Assistant Referee.