Croatia was eliminated from the 2026 World Cup after a match loss to Portugal, with a disallowed equalizer sparking controversy among the players.
Croatia was eliminated from the 2026 World Cup on Thursday evening, suffering a defeat against Portugal. Players expressed their frustrations over a last-gasp equalizer goal that was disallowed. Igor Matanovic, who came on as a substitute, was at the center of attention for his action which led to the goal being disallowed as he was considered to be in an offside position.
"It's difficult to find the right words. We deserved more," said Matanovic. The player also questioned some refereeing decisions: "I didn't see a penalty foul for Ronaldo's goal. And we were stopped for offside three times."
Martin Baturina also expressed his disappointment: "We were eliminated unfairly. Luck was on their side. I wanted to know what the referee had seen, but he replied: 'Nothing'. The technology said that Matanovic had touched the ball. We showed that we have quality and we didn't deserve to end like this."
Josip Stanisic added that Croatia were unlucky: "We could have scored two or three more goals. Luck wasn't on our side and the referee could have whistled something in our favour. We are hugely disappointed. We should have defended better, that player had too much space to hit. In the past we have been lucky, but this time it wasn't like that."
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