Croatia wrote to FIFA following their performance FIFA World Cup Round of 32 elimination against Portugal, accusing football’s governing body of allowing technology to overtake their role in deciding matches.The Croatian Football Federation (HNS) questioned the use of advanced technology in Portugal’s 2-1 win, with its complaints centered on the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system and the use of data generated by Trionda’s match ball.The clash continued into stoppage time when Joško Gvardiol appeared to have scored the goal that would have kept Croatia’s World Cup hopes alive. Although the goal was initially awarded, referee Espen Eskås overturned the decision after further VAR review.The offside call wasn’t just based on normal video. Instead, FIFA’s football technology detected what the officials thought was just a touch of Igor Matanović’s hair before the ball reached Gvardiol, changing the offside calculation and causing the goal to be disallowed.While television replays appeared to show the goal as legal, FIFA defended the decision by pointing to data collected by sensors inside the official ball.In a statement, FIFA said: “The IMU sensors located inside the Trionda ball can detect a slight contact, displayed to the television viewers as a ‘heart rate image,’ allowing officials to make quick and accurate decisions.”Croatia, however, believes the incident raises more concerns about the conduct of football officials. The organization says that relying on invisible connections that can only be detected through technology goes beyond the requirements of VAR and abandons the principle of correcting “obvious and obvious” errors.The HNS complaint also challenges the idea of giving Portugal a second penalty, which Cristiano Ronaldo he was substituted in the 68th minute to change the score.Speaking to RTL Danas, HNS Spokesman Tomislav Pacak explained why the organization decided to escalate the matter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.“Croatia Football Association sent a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino in which we expressed our disappointment and disagreement with the match with Portugal, not because of the referee’s decisions, because they can be discussed after every match, but because of the process that led to those decisions.“First of all, we believe that the VAR system was used incorrectly for the Portuguese penalty, and the referee should not have been called to look at the footage. And most importantly, with Guardiola being the same as Guardiola, Pasalic was given offside against the rules and the spirit of football due to Matanovic’s football game that was not there, because the sensor showed that.”Pacak emphasized that Croatia is not against modern technology in football but believes that it should not interfere with the spirit of the game.“We believe that this is a technical abuse, which we receive in football, but we believe that this is not useful for FIFA, teams and football fans, and we know that our letter will not reduce the pain and frustration of fans and players, but we believe that it is necessary to warn FIFA and ask for a detailed explanation of all decisions,” he concluded.FIFA has so far stood by the refereeing process and the technology used in the game, but Croatia’s complaint has deepened the debate over how much technical support should have at football’s biggest tournament.
