Antoine Griezmann scored in the eighth minute of second half stoppage time in France’s game against Tunisia on Wednesday but the goal was ruled offside.
In Pictures: France vs Tunisia
Griezmann’s goal was ruled out as the French forward was standing in an offside position before the free kick was delivered into the Tunisia penalty area.
His presence was deemed to have interfered with the Tunisia defender’s action. The defender was interpreted to have tracked back to cover Griezmann, which ultimately helped the Atletico Madrid player convert the chance.
While the referee gave the goal, he was asked to double-check the action on the VAR screen. After a review, the referee, Matthew Conger, overturned his decision to disallow France’s equaliser.
France was trailing 0-1 at the time, and the goal put Les Blues as the outright leader in Group D at seven points. The ruled-out goal, however, still saw the team end first but on goal difference.
France was on a nine-game unbeaten run at World Cups before the game. A failure to find the net meant that Les Bleus lost their first game since the quarterfinal against Germany in 2014.
The decision also handed the African side its first win over France since 1971. Despite the three points on the night, Tunisia failed to make it to the knockouts.
In the other game of the group, Australia pulled off a surprise 1-0 win over Denmark to secure its passage to the Last 16 of the FIFA World Cup. The Socceroos move to the knockouts for the first time since 2006.
France will now face the second-placed team from Group D, while Australia will take on the group topper. This leads to a potential rematch between France and Argentina - the Round of 16 match in 2018, which Didier Deschamps’ side won 4-3.
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