Portugal advanced to the round of 16, beating Croatia, though not without controversy. In injury time, Croatia came closest to their second goal and could have forced a penalty shoot-out. But VAR intervened, and the goal was disallowed. While that decision has left the Croatian players and fans stunned, former USMNT veteran Marcelo Balboa thinks that the implementation of VAR is doing more harm than good to soccer now.
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“I thought VAR was supposed to help the game of soccer. I think it’s hurting it a little bit now,” Balboa said on CBS Sports Golazo.
So, what actually happened in injury time?
Portugal was leading 2-1 entering injury time. Croatian winger Ivan Perisic went up from the left and swung in a cross. He pinballed it from the six-yard box to Mario Pasalic as the latter beat Portuguese defender Josko Gvardiol to find the net. A wild celebration started as the scoreboard showed 2-2. But it was short-lived as the referee rushed to the VAR screen.
It was seen that Pasalic was in an offside position just when Perisic swung in the cross. Snicko technology was used to confirm that it was Croatian forward Igor Matanović who kicked the ball before Portugal’s Renato Veiga touched it. And at the time of Matanovic’s kick, Pasalic was clearly in an offside position. Thus, the goal was disallowed, and an offside was called. But here’s where the confusion begins.
“I thought VAR was supposed to help the game of soccer… I think it’s hurting it a little bit now.”@marcelobalboa17 isn’t sure whether VAR is helping or hindering football after Croatia’s late equalizer was disallowed 📺 pic.twitter.com/ptppEsic6D
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) July 3, 2026
As per FIFA rules, a player is called offside if he stays behind the defender when the ball gets passed to his teammate. So, Croatia’s offside call was justified, but the replay showed that the particular ball touched multiple players before Pasalic took the shot. It was seen that Perisic’s long cross went through a few players, bounced off Veiga’s head, and then got to Pasalic.
However, it was just Matanovic’s unintentional yet minor head to the ball, while Pasalic was offside, which caused the goal to be disqualified.
That’s where Balboa wonders if VAR’s objective is to speed up the game or to restrict it.
“So, are we advancing to help soccer? Are we stopping it? And are we hurting it now? Last night in the USA game, the VAR reached out to the referee. So, the VAR was created for goal-line technology. It wasn’t made for you to be offside by my little elbow here,” Balboa added.
Maybe the VAR is getting overused, or maybe FIFA wants the game to be absolutely error-free. Whatever it is, it’s creating more confusion for the fans and analysts. Croatia just paid the price for such confusion.
