World Cup 2026: Was it offside? Technical error leaves question over VAR picture in Switzerland’s draw with Qatar

Was Switzerland’s Remo Freuler offside before bringing down Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abounada?

The question remains unanswered after a glitch with the semi-automatic offside system left everyone guessing.

And it led to a penalty, Brill Mbolo converted as the team Saturday drew 1-1 in Group B of the World Cup In Santa Clara.

Ahead of the tournament, FIFA put a lot of stock in its new, improved semi-automatic offside system.

World football’s governing body scans every player at the World Cup to create unique, lifelike avatars of each.

It was supposed to provide the most accurate example of an offside decision we’ve ever seen.

Yet after waiting more than four hours for evidence that Fraulein was onside, FIFA released a statement saying “a brief technical outage prevented the creation of the onside animation graphic”.

It said the lines drawn by the video assistant referee (VAR) did not show offside and released two images – which remain inconclusive – but not the usual avatar image.

The statement said: “VAR’s workflow was not affected by the issue and followed the normal procedure for checking on-field decisions.

“The lines used by VAR to check the position of the relevant players did not show the attacking player to be in an offside position in the two situations immediately before the decision of the penalty.”

“We all think here (it was offside),” Gary Neville said on ITV before the statement was released.

“Everyone at home thinks that. FIFA is the host broadcaster and they have semi-automatic decisions that they can show us.

“There’s a huge question mark on that because it’s offside in my eyes until they prove me different.”

If there’s one thing guaranteed to create doubt, it’s procrastination. This creates a vacuum that feeds conspiracy theories. It might think FIFA is hiding something.