Featured Image Credit: Twitter
Topics: Football World Cup, Lautaro Martinez, Argentina, VAR
Ryan Sidle
Topics: Football World Cup, Lautaro Martinez, Argentina, VAR
FIFA and VAR have been accused of missing a huge detail in Lautaro Martinez's disallowed goal, as Saudi Arabia shocked Argentina.
One of the favourites to lift the World Cup, ahead of the tournament, Argentina were dealt a huge blow on Tuesday as they were beaten by Saudi Arabia.
Salem Aldawsari's brilliant second-half strike was worthy of winning any game, and it was made even better by the Arabic commentary, which will make your hair stand on end.
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The Saudis certainly deserved their win, which instantly goes down in history, and it wasn't even like they were hanging on too much at the end.
Herve Renard's team would have been counting their lucky stars more at half time, given Argentina could have been clear by the break.
Lionel Messi opened his account for the tournament, with a coolly-taken penalty, despite the Saudi keeper trying to put him off, to give his side the lead.
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The South American champions also had three goals disallowed due to offsides, with the semi-automatic offside helping the on-pitch officials to make the decisions.
However, the system has been criticised for ruling Inter Milan striker Martinez as offside, with accusations that the VAR was only looking at the defender closest to him.
Left-back Yasser Alshahrani appeared to keep Martinez onside, which would have allowed the goal to stand, and given Argentina a 2-0 lead.
"The image of Lautaro Martínez's goal disallowed for offside," one fan said whilst posting the 'truth.'
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"FIFA made an awful mistake. If we go to the coordinates and not to the automatic offside, there is a player from Arabia behind the last man.
"It is a terrible mistake."
"The game is over, I know, but Lautaro Martinez was not offside," a second fan added.
"Instead of using the whole offside line, they only used the player closest to Lautaro. They made “new rules and changes” to the VAR for the World Cup, but it only made it worse."
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Another questioned his own sanity, asking, "I may honestly be wrong, but they gave it offside due to the defending to the right of Martinez. Am I mad in thinking the LB is the furthest defender back?"
Some fans were saying that VAR really shouldn't be allowed to rule out brilliant goals, and you really can't argue considering Martinez's beautiful chip.
After the game, Messi was magnanimous in defeat and refused to complain about or blame the offside calls that went against his team.
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The PSG forward did say that his team had 'messed up,' and moaned at their decision just to 'throw' crosses into the box after going behind.
His and his teammates' worries would have been somewhat alleviated after Group C rivals Poland and Mexico drew 0-0, after Robert Lewandowski's penalty was saved by Guillermo Ochoa.
That draw means Argentina will still go through if they win their final two games of the group, something they're more than capable of doing.