Argentina’s devastating 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia has been made even worse by the revelation that VAR committed a stunning error.
Herve Renard’s team pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history by coming from behind to defeat Lionel Messi and co in their World Cup debut.
After just 10 minutes, the talismanic Messi had put Argentina ahead from the penalty spot.
As one of the favourites to win the competition given their status as South American champions, there didn’t appear to be any surprises in Doha.
However, remarkable goals from Saudi captain Salem Al-Dawsari and Saleh Al-Shehri in the second half, scored four minutes apart, turned Tuesday’s David vs. Goliath match on its head.
The Argentines could’ve been two goals clear long before half-time, though, as striker Lautaro Martinez had a 28th-minute goal ruled out for offside by VAR after the on-field linesman initially allowed it to stand.
FIFA’s state-of-the-art technology soon detected that Inter Milan star Martinez was narrowly ahead of his marker when teammate Papu Gomez played him through, keeping the scoreline 1-0.
Somehow, though, VAR official Abdelhak Etchiali had traced the semi-automatic offside system to the wrong Saudi player and not their actual furthest man back, Yasir Al Shahrani.
📺 ERROR catastrófico del VAR en el gol anulado a Lautaro Martínez.
El VAR cogió al defensa equivocado olvidándose del lateral izquierdo.
Lautaro Martínez se encuentra en POSICION LEGAL. ❌
Análisis al detalle de @_naxotellado trazando las tres líneas. pic.twitter.com/BzC8BSpgtI
— Archivo VAR (@ArchivoVAR) November 22, 2022
It turns out that the Green Falcons defender was indeed playing Martinez onside, whose well-taken goal should’ve stood and given Argentina two-goal advantage at the Lusail Stadium.
What Argentina Boss Said
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni appeared to lay a heavy portion of the blame for his side’s shocking loss on FIFA’s technology, having also had two more goals ruled out for offside in the first half.
“The reasons were millimetric,” Scaloni bemoaned post-match.
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“The offsides, they have a high defensive line, we knew that any goal situation would go for or against us.
“In this case, the semi-automatic offside technology took a goal away from us. That’s the way it is, we congratulate our rivals.”
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