Head coach of Portugal’s National Men’s Football Team, Roberto Martinez, has stated that the decision to disallow Croatia’s last second goal in a 2-1 loss to Portugal wasn’t a subjective opinion but one steeped in technology. (Scroll down to watch video)
He said this in a post-game presser after Portugal qualified to the round of 16 stage at the 2026 FIFA World Cup by beating Croatia at the round of 32 stage.
Croatia celebrated a last gasp goal from Josko Gvardiol 13 minutes into added on time to tie the game at 2-2.
However, a VAR review cancelled the goal based on data provided by sensors placed in the ball that determined that Igor Matanovich’s hair touched the ball before Mario Pasalic helped the ball on for Gvardiol to score leading Martinez to state that,
“Before-in the past- the refereeing decisions were so difficult. This is one of the examples where technology helps the game because it was offside. There is no subjective opinion.”
Portugal take on Spain on Monday, July 6.
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
🚨 Regarding Croatia’s disallowed goal, this “super slow-motion” replay shows that the ball was indeed almost certainly touched by Matanović—at the very least, a graze of the hair.
We can obviously question the “spirit” of how the rules are applied here, but since technology… pic.twitter.com/iN5GGEUPsT— Check VAR World Cup (@ArbitreVAR) July 3, 2026
