Kiwi ref disallows late France goal
Kiwi referee Matthew Conger played a decisive role in Tunisia’s stunning 1-0 upset of France at the World Cup after controversially disallowing a late equaliser from the defending champions in Doha.
With Tunisia leading 1-0 deep into injury time thanks to Wahbi Khazri’s 58th-minute strike, a much-changed French team thought they had levelled when substitute Antoine Griezmann lashed home after a ball into the box fell to the Atle´tico Madrid forward.
But as the Tunisian players sunk to the turf in the belief that the final whistle had been blown, Conger – a schoolteacher from Palmerston North – ordered a VAR check for a potential offside.
After a brief look at the monitor, he disallowed Griezmann’s 98th-minute strike, much to the delight of the heavily pro-tunisian crowd. The North African side duly held on for the remaining seconds to record a famous victory.
However, it still wasn’t enough for Tunisia to advance to the knockout stages, after Australia stunned Denmark 1-0 in the other game to claim the second qualification spot in the group behind France.
With France already qualified for the knockout stage, coach Didier Deschamps rested Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe´ and most of his regular starters. Only four of the team lining up at the beginning had even started a World Cup match before.
Tunisia finished on four points after three matches, with France and Australia on six and Euro 2020 semifinals Denmark in last place on one point.
Montpellier winger Khazri ran at the heart of the French defence and beat two players before poking the ball into the bottom corner for the only goal of the game.
He fell to his knees and was mobbed by team-mates. When he got back up, he made a heart shape to the Tunisian fans behind the goal and then limped off, appearing to hurt himself as he fell when scoring his 25th international goal and his third at World Cups.
It was Tunisia’s third victory at a World Cup, and France’s first loss at the tournament since the 2014 quarterfinals, when Germany beat the team 1-0.
With France already qualified for the knockout stage, coach Didier Deschamps rested Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe´ and most of his regular starters. Only four of the team lining up at the beginning had even started a World Cup match before.
But Khazri’s goal prompted Deschamps to bring on Mbappe´ and Griezmann and the increased urgency almost led to an equaliser.