Snicko Technology Sparked a Stadium Meltdown After Croatia’s Last-Gasp Goal Was Waved Off

Croatia fans hurled bottles onto the field at BMO Field on Friday night. The target of their anger wasn’t a player. It wasn’t even the referee. It was a silent piece of technology inside the match ball that convinced officials to wipe out a 103rd-minute equalizer and send Portugal through to the World Cup round of 16.

Here’s what happened. Portugal had just gone up 2-1 on a Goncalo Ramos header in the 94th minute. Cristiano Ronaldo had earlier equalized from the penalty spot after Ivan Perisic opened the scoring for Croatia. The game looked dead. But Croatia kept pushing and in the 103rd minute, a cross from the left found Mario Pasalic, who nodded the ball across the six-yard box to Josko Gvardiol. The Manchester City defender slammed it home. Bedlam in the stands. Extra time seemed certain.

But then the VAR room got involved. The ball used in this tournament contains Snicko technology — a sensor system originally designed to detect faint touches for goal-line decisions. It picked up something barely visible to the naked eye. As the initial cross came in, Croatia substitute Igor Matanovic appeared to brush the ball with his head. That flick-on, however slight, meant Pasalic received the ball in an offside position when Matanovic touched it.

Referee Espen Eskas went to the monitor. That alone is unusual for an offside call — normally those are drawn up on a touchscreen and confirmed by radio. But Eskas walked over, reviewed the angle, and overturned the goal.

The stadium turned.

Water bottles rained down from the Croatian section. Security personnel scrambled. Players on the field looked stunned. Ivan Perisic actually walked over to the Croatian fans and motioned for them to calm down, his hands out like a man trying to talk someone off a ledge. Then the stadium big screen showed a replay of the offside call, presumably to show the crowd just how close the call was. BBC commentators noted it seemed like an attempt to cool the rage by demonstrating the technical justification.

And that’s the part people will argue about. The contact was so faint that on most replays you could barely see Matanovic’s head move. Without Snicko, no referee on earth calls that offside. But the technology said yes, 100 percent, according to former referee Darren Cann, who texted BBC host Mark Chapman after the game: ‘Snicko, that 100 percent proves that he touched it with the flick-on.’

That didn’t help Mateo Kovacic. The Manchester City midfielder was in tears at the final whistle. Luka Modric, at 40 years old, saw his World Cup career end right there — a brutal finish for a player who led Croatia to a final and a semifinal in the last two tournaments. Portugal moves on to face Spain in the round of 16. Croatia goes home wondering if a goal that looked good to everyone in the stadium actually counted.