No evidence that ball touched the overhead wire: FIFA

Miami, July 12 (IANS) FIFA has stated that there was “no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire” in Jude Bellingham’s equaliser in England’s 2-1 World Cup quarter-final win against Norway in Miami.

Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland’s goal kick appeared to clearly strike a camera wire late in the first half, allowing England to quickly surge forward on the attack and Bellingham scored the tying goal.

As per the rule, if the ball had been noticed hitting the wire, play would have stopped and a drop ball would have been utilised to determine possession. But, play was not interrupted. However, the game kept going. Even though Norway’s goalkeeper Nyland and manager Stale Solbakken protested to the referee, their protests went unheard.

FIFA has reacted to the controversy, saying that the sensor within the ball showed “no peaks in the ‘heartbeat of the ball’ when in the air”. It also remains unclear whether video assistant referee Jerome Brisard reviewed the incident before the goal was allowed.

“Before England’s goal in minute 45+2 against Norway, the sensor in the connected ball showed no peak in the ‘heartbeat of the ball’ when in the air, and therefore no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball,” FIFA said in a statement.

Interestingly, Brisard also served as the VAR official during Argentina’s controversial 3-2 quarter-final victory over Egypt, a match that sparked strong protests from the Egyptian camp, claiming that several referee decisions unfairly favoured Argentina.

However, clips of the incident are going viral on social media, showing that the ball hit the wire and changed its trajectory.

This is the latest ‘Sniko’ drama in the tournament. Earlier, a sensor in the ball was used to rule out a potential equalising goal for Croatia in their loss to Portugal as the sensor detected the ball had touched a Croatia player and rendered the goal offside.

The Argentina vs Egypt game also saw an Egypt goal taken off the scoreboard in the 58th minute after a VAR review determined that Marwan Attia had fouled Argentina defender Lisandro Martínez.