France’s Football federation (FFF) have confirmed that they will complain to FIFA about the decision to disallow Antoine Griezzman’s equaliser against Tunisia, with the federation slamming the misuse of VAR technology.
Having already qualified for the last 16 of the competition, where they will face Poland, Didier Deschamps fielded a heavily rotated side to face the north African side, making nine changes to his team from the XI that beat Denmark and leaving the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Griezmann all on the bench.
It backfired, however. Tunisia were far the better side for the opening hour and, after having a goal ruled out for offside in the first half, struck in the second as former Sunderland striker Wabhi Khazri found the back of the net.
On came the cavalry, and France ended the game in the ascendancy as they looked to avoid handing Tunisia a historic win. And Antoine Griezmann thought he had done so with just seconds left in second-half stoppage time, firing home after an initial cross was flicked on by a Tunisia defender, only for VAR to deem the Atletico Madrid man to be in an offside position.
Should Antoine Griezmann’s last-minute goal have stood? 🧐
The disallowed goal meant Tunisia recorded a memorable win over France despite going out of World Cup 🇹🇳#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/cCHS17R5cO
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 30, 2022
However, France believe that the game had already restarted, which made a VAR check impossible under FIFA laws.
“We are writing a complaint following the goal of Antoine Griezmann, wrongly disallowed, from our point of view”, they explained. “This complaint must be sent to Fifa within 24 hours of the end of the match”.
The result, in this case, will be purely academic, with Tunisia out irrespective of the win or draw and France already atop their group.
