VAR 'taking joy' from football says Croatia coach after late goal disallowed

CROATIA COACH ZLATKO Dalic said VAR is taking “the joy out of football” after seeing his team have a stoppage time equaliser disallowed in their 2-1 World Cup defeat to Portugal on Thursday.

Croatia’s players thought they had grabbed an incredible equaliser when Josko Gvardiol prodded the ball into the net in the 13th minute of stoppage time in Toronto.

But VAR chalked off the goal after a chip embedded in the match ball detected that it had just brushed Croatia striker Igor Matanovic while Mario Pasalic was in an offside decision in the build-up.

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After equalising with the last kick of the game, Croatia's goal is ruled out with what can only be described as a contentious VAR decision.

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Asked afterwards if he felt technology and VAR decisions in football had gone too far, Dalic broadly agreed.

“You were able to see to what extent emotions have been literally killed, and altogether these decisions take you back and actually take the joy out of football,” Dalic said in a press conference, according to a Fifa interpreter.

“I’m not saying that sometimes VAR can’t be of help, but it kills the emotions, it kills everything within you, it kills what you are experiencing and it’s not easy to deal with all of this.”

According to the data provided by Connected Ball Technology housed within the @adidasfootball Trionda, the official match ball of the @FIFAWorldCup, it was proven that contact was made by Croatia's #20 Igor Matanović in the build up to the goal against Portugal, allowing the… pic.twitter.com/AyBz11N3wV

— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) July 3, 2026

The “connected ball” chip technology used to rule out Gvardiol’s goal had already been deployed at this World Cup, during Sweden’s group game with Tunisia last month.

On that occasion, Mattias Svanberg saw a goal ruled out for offside before VAR overturned the decision after determining the ball had taken a slight touch by team-mate Alexander Isak which had played him onside.

Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said there was no debate around Croatia’s disallowed goal.

“The message is very clear: The balls now they have a chip, and it’s very clear and that’s why the VAR intervened,” Martinez said.

“There is no subjective opinion — the chip of the ball shows there is a touch from Matanovic, and that when it happens, Pasalic is offside.

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“It’s a shame that one of the teams had to lose today, but there was no bad decision, no unlucky call today, it was clear-cut and technology helped. We were fortunate with a moment but it was a clear moment.”

– © AFP 2026

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