The French federation announced on Wednesday that France would be appealing to FIFA after a video review disallowed Antoine Griezmann’s last-second equalizer in their World Cup encounter against Tunisia.
A goal was disallowed because Griezmann was offside when Aurelien Tchouameni delivered the ball into the box eight minutes into stoppage time.
Griezmann was onside when a Tunisian defender deflected the ball into his path, but the goal was disallowed and Tunisia went on to win 1-0.
The French federation contends that a procedural technicality was made by the referee and VAR.
“We are writing a complaint after Antoine Griezmann’s goal was, in our opinion, wrongly disallowed. This complaint has to be filed within 24 hours after the final whistle,” the FFF said in a statement.
According to the French national team, referee Michael Conger awarded the goal late in extra time and restarted the match before sounding the final whistle. Conger then went to the pitchside monitor after being instructed by the VAR to look into Griezmann’s apparent offside position.
The law of the game should not have enabled the referee to inspect the goal and subsequently rule it out because Law 1.10 on VAR from IFAB specifies that if the game has been restarted, VAR cannot intervene further.
The FFF has written to FIFA requesting that the goal be reinstated and that France and Tunisia be tied at one. That would modify Tunisia and France’s points in the Group D table, but it would not impact the final standings or which teams move on to the knockout stages.