When time is running out and you know you have played great football for the last 102 minutes of regulation and stoppage time, and suddenly a chance comes your way, every footballer just wants to land the header or the volley in the back of the net. That’s what Joško Gvardiol, an experienced defender for Croatia, did against Portugal.
He seemed to have hit the nail on its head and taken the Round of 32 match between the two teams at the FIFA World Cup 2026 to extra time. The tournament had already seen heavyweights like Germany and the Netherlands crash out on penalty shootouts, and other big teams like England and Belgium fought tooth and nail to score very late winners to save themselves from a similar fate.
In this match though, both teams were on level footing, yet Croatia taking the match to extra time or beating Portugal would have certainly been called an upset because of the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Portuguese lineup.
But that wasn’t to be the case as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) turned the goal down. So how did it exactly transpire?
The Goal That Wasn’t
Ivan Perišić whipped a dangerous cross into the box. The ball sailed past a leaping Igor Matanović, ricocheted toward the back post via Mario Pašalić, and was emphatically slid into the net by Gvardiol. The stadium erupted; Croatia had seemingly snatched a miraculous 2-2 equalizer deep into stoppage time.
However, the celebrations were brutally cut short. While initial television replays suggested Matanović had completely missed his header, meaning the goal was legitimate, the video assistant referee intervened. Technology akin to cricket’s “Snickometer” proved that the ball had infinitesimally grazed Matanović’s hair. Because Pašalić was standing in an offside position at the exact moment of that feather-light touch, the goal was disallowed, eliminating Croatia in agonizing fashion.
How Connected Ball Technology Helped Portugal Keep Croatia At Bay: FIFA Explains
Following the intense post-match debate and fury from the Croatian camp, football’s governing body stepped forward to clarify the exact mechanics that saved Portugal’s tournament.
In an official statement, FIFA said that the IMU sensors within the Trionda ball are capable of determining any slight contact, aiding officials in “fast, accurate decisions.
“According to the data provided by Connected Ball Technology housed within the adidas Trionda, the official match ball of the FIFA World Cup, it was proven that contact was made by Croatia’s #20 Igor Matanović in the build-up to the goal against Portugal, allowing the referee to correctly determine offside and disallow the goal.
IMU sensors housed within the Trionda ball are capable of determining any slight contact, displayed to viewers in the broadcast as a ‘heartbeat graphic’, and allowing officials an unprecedented level of data to make fast, accurate decisions.”
The Science Behind the Decision
The Adidas Trionda ball carries a new generation of Connected Ball Technology: a 500Hz inertial measurement unit sensor housed inside a specially built layer within one of the ball’s four panels, with counter-balances across the other three panels to preserve flight stability.
It’s a shift from earlier tournament balls, which held their sensors in a center-suspended mount. The chip sends real-time telemetry 500 times per second to the VAR room.
When Matanović challenged for the ball, the contact was so microscopic that even the striker wasn’t sure it had happened. “Honestly, I felt a small contact with my hair, so I asked the referee what it was. I wasn’t 100 percent sure if I touched it. He told me they have a chip in the ball, that there was contact, and then it was offside,” Matanović said afterward. Human eyes and high-frame-rate cameras couldn’t definitively track a deviation in the ball’s path.
The IMU sensor, however, picked up the minute change in acceleration and vibration, producing a sharp spike on the officiating screens.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić was left fuming at how the technology shaped the result. “You were able to see to what extent emotions have been literally killed, and altogether these decisions take you back and actually take the joy out of football,” he said.
“I’m not saying that sometimes VAR can’t be of help, but it kills the emotions, it kills everything within you, it kills what you are experiencing, and it’s not easy to deal with all of this,” he added.
Portugal boss Roberto Martínez saw it differently. “The message is very clear: the balls now have a chip, and it’s very clear, and that’s why the VAR intervened,” he said, adding that there was “no bad decision or lucky decision. It was a clear moment.”