How Croatia’s World Cup Dream Was Controversially Ended by a Microchip

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8 July 2026

The 90 minutes are over;

Croatia

are one-nil down to

Portugal

in the Round of 32 in the

FIFA

World Cup

; the hearts of almost four billion Croatians lie in your hands; injury time is ticking away, and quickly.

Then a cross, a deflection and Josko Gvardiol lunges forward, nicking the ball into the back of the net. The players run rampant, the fans go mad, the stadium cheers, but the

goal is ruled out

, judged offside by none other than a microchip.

Croatia bowed out of the 2026

FIFA World Cup

with the help of the new Adidas Triodan ball, which comes equipped with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) that serves to improve the accuracy and validity of decisions.

However,

are yet to accept the bleak end to what was sure to be an amazing run.

The Croatian Football Federation (HNS) has sent an official letter to

protesting against the refereeing in their battle against Roberto Martinez’s

team.

Various controversial decisions in the match were cited in their report, the most important complaint being the incorrect application of the rule in Josko Gvardiol’s last-minute goal.

FIFA have stated

that the ball made contact with Igor Matanovic’s hair and was thus ruled offside.

“VAR kills emotions; it kills everything within you. We have gone too far with VAR.” This was just one of the many things said by Croatian manager Zlatko Dalić after their loss to the Portuguese.

The comments don’t end there however, as the spokesperson for the HNS. Tomislav Pacakhad had this to say: “The Croatian Football Federation sent a letter to

President Gianni Infantino, expressing our deep disappointment and disagreement regarding the match with Portugal—not because of the refereeing decisions as such, because those can be discussed after every game, but because of the very process that led to those decisions.”

“For starters, we believe that the VAR protocol was completely incorrectly applied for the penalty awarded to

, and the referee should not

have been

called to review the footage there. And, even more importantly, during Gvardiol’s equalizing goal, contrary to the rules and the spirit of football, an offside was called on Pašalić due to a non-existent play on the ball by Matanović, simply because the sensor showed it that way.”

“We believe this is a misuse of technology, which we welcome in football, but we think this kind of application is useful neither to

, nor to the teams and football fans. We know that our letter will not ease the pain and disappointment of the fans and players, but we believe it is important to warn

and request a detailed explanation of all decisions.”

The complaints from Croatia’s camp were seemingly taken lightly by

boss Roberto Martinez, who backed the VAR decision wholeheartedly.

“It’s a shame one of the two teams had to lose,” said Roberto Martinez. “But there is no bad decision or lucky decision. It was a clear moment.

“The balls now have a chip and the sensor shows the ball was touched.”

This decision is sure to spur controversy even after the eventual end of the

, and as technology continues to grow and expand the beautiful game, cases like this are sure to become more and more common with each tournament.

What could be said about Luka Modric, to go out against his former teammate and Football legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, at a time when many players, including him, are playing what’s dubbed as “The Last Dance.”

Technology was integrated to make accurate and reliable decisions, but it may be slowly killing the spirit of the game.

exit with their sights already set on the next one, trying to recover after this poor campaign and perhaps one day carry the monumental

trophy.

Croatia send letter to FIFA over 'abuse of technology' after Portugal VAR decision

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