The biggest VAR controversies from the 2022 World Cup

After the 2018 World Cup, there was a lot of praise for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and the way that it was implemented. Fast forward to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, and many people are far from impressed.

There have been a number of unusual decisions that have left fans feeling baffled and aggrieved on the biggest stage. It is one of those situations where fans will likely never be happy en masse with VAR, but there have been some genuinely odd calls in Qatar that have led to some spicy post-match interviews. For example, Luka Modric called Daniele Orsato 'a disaster' after their semi-final loss to Argentina.

Here are some of the most controversial VAR calls of the 2022 World Cup. Opinions may differ on the final decision, but they are on this list as they sparked the most anger and debate.

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Wojciech Szczesny's foul on Lionel Messi

In the final set of group matches, Poland faced Argentina and the game was crucial to both sides' chances of getting through to the next round. As things transpired, they did both make it through, but Poland only made it by virtue of having fewer yellow cards than Mexico.

Towards the end of the first half, a cross was flighted towards the back post and Lionel Messi managed to get his head on it. He beat Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to it and the goalkeeper made some contact with the forward.

A penalty wasn't given but VAR then changed the referee's mind. Some thought this was the right call, others thought it was inconsequential contact that is to be expected in a crowded penalty area. Messi missed the spot-kick anyway, but Argentina went on to win 2-0.

Antoine Griezmann's offside vs Tunisia

This one's a bit confusing. Thankfully for all involved, the whole game was inconsequential in terms of who would go into the round of 16. France were through, Tunisia were not. The North African side were 1-0 up in the stoppage time though and ready to celebrate a first-ever win over France.

Then Antoine Griezmann scored. He hit a volley low into the far corner after a defender had headed the ball up into the air following a cross. When that initial cross went in, Griezmann was certainly offside, but he was not when he took his shot.

The ruling is that as the defender had not deliberately played the ball into Griezmann's path, the Atletico Madrid forward is still offside. Who can decide whether the defender's header was a deliberate action, though?

Handball by Jose Gimenez against Portugal

This is part of the reason why the Uruguay players were so incensed at the end of their group match and Edinson Cavani pushed the VAR monitor to the ground in a rage.

They were 1-0 down against Portugal with Bruno Fernandes having scored earlier in the contest. In stoppage time, Portugal were awarded a penalty after Jose Maria Gimenez was adjudged to have handled the ball. As he went to ground, the hand behind him that he was in the process of planting on the ground struck the ball, and that was all it took.

Uruguay were out, and the referee and other official got the mother of all earfuls from each and every Uruguayan player.

Shirt sleeve offside denies Croatia

The introduction of semi-automated offside decisions for this World Cup led to a highly controversial call in the group game between Croatia and Belgium.

The Croatians had been awarded a penalty and Luka Modric was stood at the spot ready to take it. Anthony Taylor delayed the kick and was called to the monitor to take a look at an offside in the build-up to the penalty.

It was judged that Dejan Lovren had been ahead of Jan Vertonghen, with replays showing part of his shirt sleeve to be the offending party. The game ended 0-0 and after reaching the semi-finals, Croatia may now be over it.

Dayot Upamecano's foul on Bukayo Saka

England felt aggrieved for two reasons in their quarter-final defeat against France. The first was a perceived foul on Bukayo Saka in the build-up to Aurelien Tchouameni's opening goal of the game in the second half.

Dayot Upamecano seemed to foul Saka and then 27 seconds later, the ball was in the back of the net. It seemed to be a clear foul, but the VAR needed to decide if it was a clear and obvious error and also whether it was linked enough to the goal itself. They opted in France's favour.

The other decision was for a foul on Harry Kane by Upamecano. It was certainly a foul, but it was judged to have been outside the box, something many England fans still don't agree with.