Chaos and controversy has become par for the course at World Cup 2026.
The World Cup‘s round-of-32 continues to deliver incredible storylines but Portugal‘s comeback win against Croatia will take some beating for sheer drama.
Roberto Martinez’s side will do battle with Spain in the last-16 after edging out the 2018 finalists in what appears set to be Luka Modric‘s final international outing.
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Croatia’s late equaliser against Portugal disallowed
A close-run contest in Toronto exploded into life during the second half with a disallowed Cristiano Ronaldo strike before the Selecao captain scored a penalty.
But the knockout tie was taken to new levels in added time as Goncalo Ramos put the Nations League holders ahead in the fourth minute of a minimum 10 minutes.
Just as they appeared set to celebrate progress to Dallas’ Arlington Stadium, Croatia appeared to strike back through Josko Gvardiol‘s 103rd-minute finish.
The Manchester City defender reacted quickest to meet Mario Pasalic‘s cross into the Portugal area and send the Vatreni into raptures as extra time was set to loom.
However the goal was immediately sent to a VAR review by Premier League official Jarred Gillett for a potential infraction in the build-up to the dramatic leveller.
Referee Espen Eskas was recommended to review the incident on the pitch-side monitor before he announced that the goal would be chalked off for offside.
The Norwegian confirmed that replays showed Pasalic’s infraction had come from when he received the ball due to a slight deflection off the head of Igor Matanovic.
Matanovic himself had been impacted by a teammate’s actions when appearing to double Croatia’s lead after Ivan Perisic’s opener but was also flagged offside.
On that occasion it was Nikola Vlasic who was at fault and the Torino playmaker later conceded the penalty from which Ronaldo equalised by holding Renato Veiga.
Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic hit out at the VAR intervention after the game, saying: “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.”