VAR ‘taking joy’ from football says Croatia coach Dalic after loss

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said VAR is taking “the joy out of football” after seeing his team have a stoppage time equaliser disallowed in their 2-1 World Cup defeat to Portugal on Thursday.

Croatia’s players thought they had grabbed an incredible equalizer when Josko Gvardiol prodded the ball into the net in the 13th minute of stoppage time in Toronto.

But VAR chalked off the goal after a chip embedded in the match ball detected that it had just brushed Croatia striker Igor Matanovic while Mario Pasalic was in an offside decision in the build-up.

Gvardiol equalizes against portugal with the last kick of the game

Crazy!!!! pic.twitter.com/3sJkOoijMx

— Angry Incognito (@Angry_Incognito) July 3, 2026

Asked afterwards if he felt technology and VAR decisions in football had gone too far, Dalic broadly agreed.

“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,” Dalic said in a press conference, according to a FIFA interpreter.

“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.”

The “connected ball” chip technology used to rule out Gvardiol’s goal had already been deployed at this World Cup, during Sweden’s group game with Tunisia last month.

On that occasion, Mattias Svanberg saw a goal ruled out for offside before VAR overturned the decision after determining the ball had taken a slight touch by team-mate Alexander Isak which had played him onside.

Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said there was no debate around Croatia’s disallowed goal.

“The message is very clear: The balls now they  have a chip, and it’s very clear and that’s why the VAR intervened,” Martinez said.

“There is no subjective opinion — the chip of the ball shows there is a touch from Matanovic, and that when it happens, Pasalic is offside.

“It’s a shame that one of the teams had to lose today, but there was no bad decision, no unlucky call today, it was clear-cut and technology helped. We were fortunate with a moment but it was a clear moment.”