After what seemed like an equalizer by Croatia against Portugal was disallowed by VAR for offside, FIFA explained that an IMU sensor in the match ball detected a touch from Croatian forward Igor Matanovic. Despite Croatia initially taking the lead with a goal from Ivan Perisic, Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal leveled the score for Portugal. In the dying minutes, Goncalo Ramos scored the winning goal for Portugal.
A last-minute pass into the Portugal box led to Mario Pasalic setting up Josko Gvardiol to score, but the goal was ruled out after a VAR review for offside. The ball was crossed by Ivan Perisic, and it seemed that Pasalic had chested it down for Gvardiol to score, but the review showed an offside position.
Although it appeared that Croatia had salvaged the game with a late goal, VAR intervened due to a slight touch by Igor Matanovic detected by the Connected Ball Technology. The technology provided data confirming the offside position, leading to the disallowed goal for Croatia. Ronaldo’s goal and Ramos’ late winner secured Portugal’s victory in this intense FIFA World Cup 2026 match.
