Portugal and Croatia see four disallowed goals in incident-packed World Cup match
The Guardian Sport • 1 min read • Latest: Jul 3, 2026, 3:37 AM
Last updated Jul 3, 2026

Roberto Martínez's Portugal narrowly progresses to the last 16 of the World Cup after a contentious match against Croatia. Four goals were disallowed, a record for a single game in the tournament. Croatia had three goals overturned, and Cristiano Ronaldo's effort was also ruled out. The last disallowed goal came in the 103rd minute when Josko Gvardiol's potential equalizer was called offside after VAR intervention.
- •Portugal advances to the last 16 of the World Cup
- •Four goals disallowed, a tournament first
- •Croatia had three goals overturned
- •Ronaldo's goal was also ruled out
- •Gvardiol's last-minute goal called offside
- 3:37 AMThe Guardian Sport — Martínez says there was no ‘lucky call’ after record four goals ruled out in Portugal win
"‘The balls have a chip in them – it is clear why VAR intervened’ Croatia manager Dalic says ‘emotions have been literally killed’ Roberto Martínez commended the numerous VAR interventions that helped Portugal past Croatia, and said there was no “lucky call”, after his team narrowly edged an incident-packed match to progress to the last 16 of the World Cup. For the first time in the history of the tournament four goals were disallowed in the same game, with Croatia seeing three separate efforts chalked off, while Ronaldo also had a goal overturned. The final incident came in the very last seconds when Josko Gvardiol thought he had equalised in the 103rd minute of the match, only to be called offside. A snick-o-meter had detected the slightest of contacts between the ball and a teammate’s head as it crossed the box. Continue reading...
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