After an indigestible meeting and an incredible end to the match, the France team had scored an equalizing goal, finally refused by the VAR.
SourceAFP
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MBut what happened at the end of the France team’s match against Tunisia? While everyone seemed to be heading for the locker room, after France’s equalizer and the three whistles, the VAR canceled the French goal, in general incomprehension. The France team has therefore announced that it is preparing an official complaint for the attention of Fifa.
Led from 68e minute on a goal from Wahbi Khazri, the French thought they equalized on a final cross from Aurélien Tchouaméni on the left side of the French attack, victoriously taken over by Antoine Griezmann after a discount from Montassar Talbi in the 98e minute. As the players and the referee had all settled down, play had resumed, and then the referee, New Zealand’s Matthew Conger, had signaled the end of the match, the video assistance to the refereeing upset the end of the match and, after viewing, led the referee to signal an offside by the Atletico Madrid player, when Tchouaméni crosses. The game resumed a few seconds, before another final whistle with the score of 1-0.
For TF1 viewers, the end of the match was just as funny since the channel returned to the air after the equalizer… finally canceled. She resumed her broadcast a few minutes later and apologized. “We are writing a complaint following the goal of Antoine Griezmann, wrongly refused, from our point of view”, specified the FFF. “This complaint must be sent to Fifa within 24 hours of the end of the match. »
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The regulation in question
The coach of the Blues Didier Deschamps had already expressed doubts about the validity of this goal. “I am waiting for an answer on the regulations,” assured Deschamps at a press conference. The coach criticizes less the existence of an offside than “the point of settlement”. “The second aspect is that the referee whistled the kick-off and the end of the match. Does he have the right to return [sur le but] ? I’m not sure,” he continued. “I went to see him. I am awaiting the response. You don’t have Mr. Collina’s number [le patron des arbitres de la Fifa, NDLR] ? »
According to an arbitration source interviewed by Agence France-Presse, this situation does not appear in the VAR protocol. “Once the kick-off has been given, then it is impossible to return to the offside situation”, explains this source. According to the protocol of the video assistance consulted by AFP, “if play has resumed after having been stopped, the referee cannot carry out an analysis, except in the event of erroneous identity or in the event of an offense punishable by exclusion such as violent behavior, spitting, biting, and/or hurtful, rude or offensive words or acts”.
Griezmann, who thought he had ended an eleven-match Blue streak without a goal, also expressed his doubts. “Referees make choices, you have to accept. We were quite nice because we were already qualified, we didn’t get too upset. But I didn’t understand at all,” he said.
At the end of October in the Champions League, a similar situation arose between Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen (2-2). After whistling the end of the match, the French referee Clément Turpin was recalled by the video assistance and awarded a penalty for the “Colchoneros”. However, it was not a disallowed goal. Solicited in the evening by AFP, Fifa had not reacted immediately.