Fifa has admitted a “brief technical outage” prevented its much-vaunted semi-automated offside system from working during the World Cup group match between Qatar and Switzerland – a failure that left the game’s most contentious decision unresolved for hours.
The incident, in Saturday’s 1-1 draw in Santa Clara, centred on whether Switzerland’s Remo Freuler was offside before being brought down by Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada. The move led to a penalty, converted by Breel Embolo. Fifa had promised that its new system, which scanned every player to create unique avatars, would provide the most accurate offside illustrations ever seen. Instead, it reverted to drawing lines manually, releasing two static images four and a half hours later – but not the avatar graphics.
“Fifa pays referee Omar Artan full fee after US denial; VAR technology fails during Qatar-Switzerland match.”
“It’s like a …,” began Gary Neville on ITV before the statement was released. “We all think [it was offside]. Everybody at home thinks it. Fifa are the host broadcaster and they have the semi-automatic decision that they can show us. There is a massive question over that because it is offside in my eyes until they prove to me different.”
The delay, Neville implied, fed conspiracy theories. Fifa’s statement insisted the VAR workflow was unaffected and that the lines showed no offside in either of the two situations immediately before the penalty.
The controversy comes as Fifa also faced questions over its treatment of a referee. The governing body announced it will pay the full World Cup tournament fee to Somalian official Omar Artan, despite him being denied entry into the US. Artan had travelled to officiate after being selected by Fifa, underwent an 11-hour interview, and was turned away by US border forces. “I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa,” he said.
Elsewhere, Scotland ended a three-decade wait for a World Cup win by beating Haiti 1-0, John McGinn scoring the winner. Australia beat Turkey 2-0 through goals from Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe. Later on Saturday, four-time winners Germany face tournament newcomers Curaçao in Houston, while the Netherlands take on Japan in Arlington, Texas.