Australia put in one of their worst halves of football under Tony Popovic, but their efforts weren’t helped by a controversial VAR call. The Socceroos were horrid in the opening half and were in some respects lucky to only be trailing 1-0 in the closing stages as they desperately tried to hang on until the half-time break. In the 45th minute, Alex Freeman headed the ball home after a Sergiño Dest shot ricocheted off Australian defenders, but the flag was up for offside. However, the
VAR stepped in with replays showing that Florian Balogun was offside, not Freeman and awarded the goal to put the USA 2-0. While there was no question that Freeman was onside, there were doubts over Balogun, who was in front of goalkeeper Patrick Beach when his teammate scored. “From what we understood, he probably impeded Beachy,” Socceroos assistant coach Paul Okon said in a halftime interview. Australian coach Tony Popovic tread a careful line in his post-match press conference, but was clearly disappointed in the
decision. “I’m not sure on that one,” he said of the second goal. “Unfortunately, that didn’t go our way. Today wasn’t the best day for the referee. “We felt frustrated today with the referees.” It wasn’t just the coaching staff with plenty of fans questioning how they could have overruled the referee’s initial decision. Ultimately, because Balogun did not touch the ball or Beach the VAR gave the goal and capped off what was a miserable first half for Australia.
2026 FIFA World Cup, USA vs Australia, VAR controversy, Alex Freeman, Sergiño Dest, Florian Balogun, Patrick Beach, Paul Okon, Tony Popovic, offside call
VAR is such a joke.
I mean how does VAR even overrule like that if it wasn’t clear? Seems like they just picked the wrong guy offside and now everyone’s mad.
Wait so Freeman was onside for sure but they blamed Balogun being in front of the goalie?? That’s kinda like football crimes now, like just standing there is a foul? Ref should’ve just let the goal stand or whatever.
This is why I don’t like VAR, it turns into “well maybe” decisions. Also the article says Australia were lucky only down 1-0, but then VAR makes it 2-0 so… lucky?? Idk. Tony Popovic looked mad like always, but refs are always biased against certain teams anyway, it’s annoying.