France have submitted a complaint to FIFA after seeing their late Antoine Griezmann equaliser against Tunisia ruled out in a VAR controversy.
Les Bleus had already secured their place in the knockout stages before the game began and picked a much-changed team, but they were left angered at the death after Griezmann’s 98th-minute strike was chalked off, meaning they succumbed 1-0 to the Tunisians, who exited the tournament despite their momentous win.
France’s frustration was two-fold. Firstly, the offside itself came down to the referee’s opinion on a subjective area of offside law, which France felt was harshly applied.
Secondly, play had already restarted – for 40 seconds – following Griezmann’s ‘equaliser’, and according to the IFAB rulebook, VAR checks after that point are not allowed, except in certain circumstances that were not at play here. The rule states:
“If play has stopped and been restarted, the referee may not undertake a ‘review’ except for a case of mistaken identity or for a potential sending-off offence relating to violent conduct, spitting, biting or extremely offensive, insulting and/or abusive action(s).”
In their post-match statement, the FFF (French Football Federation) did not state which of the two reasons their complaint was specifically related to.
It read: “We are writing a complaint after Antoine Griezmann’s goal was, in our opinion, wrongly disallowed.
“This complaint has to be filed within 24 hours after the final whistle.”
Joining France in the last 16 from Group D are Australia after they dumped out Denmark.
France will face Poland in their first knockout tie, while the Socceroos will take on Argentina.
