Dominated 3/4 of the game by Tunisia, the Blues equalized in the last minutes by Antoine Griezmann on Wednesday in their 3rd World Cup match but the striker’s goal was finally disallowed… while the rules did not allow it. Explanations.
[Mis à jour à le 1er décembre 2022 à 09h38] This would not have changed anything, neither in the first place in Group D for France, nor in the elimination of Tunisia, victim of Australia’s victory against Denmark at the same time (1-0). Antoine Griezmann’s finally refused equalizer will however remain in the memories and in the history of this 2022 World Cup. opening in the last seconds of added time. The referee whistled the end of the match a few seconds later, TF1 even returned the antenna announcing a draw between the two teams, an insufficient result for Tunisia eliminated due to the victory at the same time of Australia against Denmark (1-0).
But patatras, the referee, the New Zealander M. Conger, was finally called by the VAR, the video assistance and decided in the process to cancel the goal for an offside position of Antoine Griezmann at the start of action, a free kick struck by Real Madrid midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni. Problem, Antoine Griezmann does not seem to play action and the ball cleared from the head by the defender of Tunisia Talbi, puts the player of Atlético Madrid in the game. The referee, after consulting the VAR and after having whistled the end of the meeting, despite everything decided to refuse the goal believing that Griezmann had taken advantage of his initial position to equalize. “On the cross, I’m offside. But that’s okay. I told him (the referee) that I didn’t intend to play the cross, but the defender misses his gesture and it’s “That’s why I’m taking it back. It’s complicated to play these matches when you’re qualified, there have been a lot of changes in the team. The most important thing is the match that’s coming” explained Antoine Griezmann after the match. meeting and therefore… the defeat of the Blues, the first in their history against Tunisia, winner but out of the tournament!
The referee actually had no right to disallow Griezmann’s goal! What does the regulation say?
Nevertheless, the goal of Antoine Griezmann, scored in the 97th minute of play and refused after a big imbroglio Wednesday evening in Qatar for the 3rd day of the group stage of the World Cup, should never have ‘be ! The analysis of the images and the regulations show that Mr. Conger, the New Zealand referee of this confused Tunisia-France, was not able to refuse the 1-1 goal scored by “Grizou”.
RMC Sport, in particular, reveals that the referee had already restarted the game following the goal, whistled for the resumption of play (in midfield, ball for the Tunisians) before whistling the final whistle a few seconds later. However, the rules of this 2022 World Cup and the protocol for using video assistance, the famous VAR, clearly specify that we cannot go back on a decision and analyze a game action after a resumption of play. in other words, the referee should have been called by his refereeing assistants to analyze this action before giving the ball back to the Tunisians for the commitment. It was then no longer possible to go back, as Mr. Conger did, deciding a few seconds after whistling the final whistle, to watch the action of the free kick. The man in black then judged an offside by Antoine Griezmann with the consequence of the cancellation of this goal of 1-1.
At the end of the evening, the FFF officially filed a complaint with FIFA for an explanation of this disallowed goal. We are writing a complaint following Antoine Griezmann’s goal, wrongly disallowed, from our point of view. This complaint must be sent to FIFA within 24 hours of the end of the match” explained a source close to RMC Sport on Wednesday, December 30.