The France team lost against Tunisia this Wednesday in their last group match of the World Cup. The Blues thought they had equalized late in the game. But the goal was ruled out by VAR. And TF1 did not show the sequence, having made the antenna too early! Tale of a quack.
Stupor and misunderstanding in Doha after the French team’s third match at the 2022 World Cup. While France thought they had snatched the draw against Tunisia, the Blues finally lost 1-0 after the saving goal of Antoine Griezmann at the very end of the match was canceled after video arbitration. Except that the viewers who followed the meeting on TF1 did not know right away that the Habs had finally been defeated by the Eagles of Carthage and believed for several minutes in a final score of 1-1! Indeed, the chain returned the antenna before the referee reconsiders his decision. Is TF1 at fault?
Margotton: “It seemed over…”
Grégoire Margotton and Bixente Lizarazu commented well on the meeting until its end. After Antoine Griezmann’s goal, the referee’s final whistle was heard in the stadium and on the air. “And we won’t go any further. Mr. Conger frees everyone on this last-second equalizer. 1 everywhere. We come back of course with all the reactions of this match”, then launches the flagship commentator of the channel. But at the time of returning the antenna appears in the image Antoine Griezmann who sees the doubt of the central referee, Mr. Conger. The final shot is of the meeting director with his hand on his headset. The ad is then sent by the channel in stride. Grégoire Margotton does not realize what is happening on the pitch since he is, with Bixente Lizarazu, facing the camera.
There followed five long minutes of advertising on the first channel, before Le Mag de la Coupe du monde began, opened by Denis Brognard who announced that the goal had been disallowed. “We left you with a score of one goal everywhere but there was the call from the VAR”, begins the presenter, before continuing: “the goal scored by Antoine Griezmann has been canceled.” “We were convinced that it was over,” admitted Grégoire Margotton immediately. “We had quietly returned the antenna to you, it seemed over, everyone was going back to the locker room. And then Mr. Conger went to consult the VAR”, he added.
Grégoire Margotton then made amends: “We wanted to apologize with Bixente for having anticipated the end of this match. We were convinced, really, that the referee had whistled, therefore to have deprived French viewers or fans Tunisians of the final result and a minute of VAR. We came back, after, of course, but we deprived them of the emotion of the live. We wanted to apologize to you. It will not happen again. “
BeIn Sports has broadcast the VAR sequence!
If TF1 made a big mistake by going on air too quickly, not seeing that the referee of the meeting had been called to check the goal with the VAR, football fans were on the other hand able to attend the whole scene in live on BeIn Sports, co-broadcaster of the competition and which, for its part, had not sent the ad once the final whistle. Some football enthusiasts were able to change channels quickly, but non-subscribers to the pay channel therefore followed this improbable turnaround on the internet… or several minutes late. Here is a television hiccup that will undoubtedly remain as one of the images of this 2022 World Cup.