This World Cup was promised to be the 'best-ever' by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and that sentiment was echoed by different quarters, with the chief reason behind the assumption being all the innovation that this edition of the showpiece event in Qatar was set to offer.
While five substitutions instead of three and the long -- and to some extent arduous for players in the middle eastern nation -- added time have not had an immense impact on viewer experience, the semi-automated technology that is being used for the first time has somewhat impaired the experiences of fans, at least from the what can be gathered fans' emotional outpouring over the goals that were ruled out on social media.
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Goals are being celebrated prematurely by fans and players alike, ultimately only proving an exercise in futility. However, that is nothing new in 2022.
Non-seasonal football fans have become accustomed to such swerves for quite some time, with top leagues around the world using Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for around the past five years. Even seasonal fans had a taste of that drama in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where VAR was in action as it made its World Cup debut.
Waiting for a VAR review after a goal from open play has been a convention for a while now. So, why is it that goals in Qatar being ruled out is apparently irking fans more than ever?
The answer can be found in the details explaining the new semi-automated offside system, which is simply an added tool to enhance the performance of the commonly used VAR. For the World Cup, FIFA installed 12 cameras in each stadium dedicated to tracking the ball, which has a sensor inside to help trace the body parts of players.
This new tool, incorporated and approved by FIFA for use as it saves significant time in making offside calls, also shows a 3D mock-up of offside players on screens in the stadium and on broadcasts, pinpointing and highlighting the millimeters of a limb caught offside.
It has only been a week since the 'greatest show on earth' commenced and, as it stands, the World Cup has seen a number of goals denied due to fractions. In fact, it took only three minutes for the new tool to kick in, denying Enner Valencia of Ecuador from becoming the fastest to score in a World Cup opener.
If that was not enough to rub fans the wrong way, surely the three first-half goals from Argentina that were ruled out against Saudi Arabia -- with Lautaro Martinez's one due to barest of margins -- were enough to see one of the most vociferous fanbases revert from anger to denial, unable to come to terms with the outcome of one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history.
Although VAR has long been disallowing goals, it is its latest iteration, featuring big screens highlighting marginal decisions to the public, that is causing the outrage.
It is also not new for VAR to make a decision that some fans will find controversial. That grey area will always be a part of such high-stakes decisions. But questions are being raised more than ever since that grey area has now been made more apparent by virtue of the latest weaponry in VAR's arsenal.
