Norway were 90 minutes away from their first-ever World Cup semifinal, a competition they’d never even reached the quarterfinals of before this tournament, when Torbjorn Heggem thought he’d fired them into a 2-1 lead over England at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. But in an anticlimactic moment, the goal was chalked off for a foul, leading analysts to voice their frustration about VAR’s favoritism. 

England were caught napping in the box in the 55th minute as Andreas Schjelderup’s delicious cross was turned towards the goal by Patrick Berg. Jordan Pickford reacted with a stunning save, but Heggem reacted the fastest to make it 2-1. Norway players were in wild celebrations, but the referee, Clement Turpin, was in talks with the VAR team. The check denied the goal and cut the celebration short.

Popular British writer Duncan Castles led the criticism on X. “Absurd decision to overrule Norway’s second goal for Haaland pushing back on Anderson ahead of a goal where the England midfielder would have had no impact on the eventual finish. Once again, FIFA VAR favours the bigger nation,” he wrote on X.

For context, IFAB, football’s lawmaking body, introduced a regulation this year stating that any foul committed before a corner kick is taken forces a retake, regardless of what happens afterward. Turpin hence ruled Haaland had pushed Elliot Anderson in the chest just before the corner was delivered, and under that rule, the goal couldn’t stand even though Anderson had no bearing on the eventual finish.

The goal could’ve given Norway a 2-1 lead and given them a great chance of making it to the semifinals.

“Nothing like VAR taking away one of the best moments in a country’s football history,” analyst Ben Steiner said.

The referees and VAR have already been accused of showing favoritism in multiple games like the Portugal-Croatia, Belgium-Senegal, and Argentina-Algeria games.

FOX rules analyst Mark Clattenburg, however, backed the call, saying the contact was clear and fell squarely under the new regulation. He also flagged a separate, uninspected incident from the same match. A Norway goal kick that struck the camera cable above the pitch before falling to England, who scored the equalizer moments later off that passage of play, a passage Clattenburg said should have been reviewable but wasn’t.

The game remains tied at 1-1 at the time of writing, as the winner gets to play a semifinal against the winner of the clash between Argentina and Switzerland.