Technology Resolves Controversy Over Portugal's Goal Against Uruguay

Technology settled the controversy over the goal scored by Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, which was not awarded to him in the Uruguay match at Lusail Stadium in the Qatari capital, Doha.

Portugal managed to defeat Uruguay 2-0, in the second round of Group H of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

There was a lot of controversy about the first goal scored by the Portuguese national team in the 54th minute.

When Bruno Fernandez raised a cross towards the Uruguay penalty area, Cristiano Ronaldo rose towards it, and it seemed to everyone that the "Don" had headed it towards the goal, especially since Ronaldo celebrated the goal in a crazy way.

The goal was awarded to Ronaldo, but then the official website of FIFA, in addition to the giant screen in the stadium, corrected the information and announced that the goal was awarded to Bruno Fernandes.

Adidas' company, which produces the 2022 World Cup balls, settled the controversy over that issue through an official statement, reported by the British newspaper Daily Mail, in which it confirmed that the ball did not touch Cristiano Ronaldo's head before entering the goal.

The company published pictures of the analysis of the technical data that was installed in the World Cup balls, indicating that Cristiano did not touch the cross that his teammate Bruno Fernandez passed.

And the company said in its statement: “After resorting to the technology related to the World Cup ball in the Portugal-Uruguay match, we can confirm that Ronaldo did not touch the ball in the first goal.

It is worth noting that FIFA has approved this technology in the World Cup ball, after consultations with researchers that spanned 3 years, to help referees and the VAR room in cases of offside, contact, and the ball crossing the goal line.

In the same context, the British newspaper "Daily Mail" stated in a report that Ronaldo had contacted the journalist Piers Morgan, from the Portugal dressing room, to assure him that he had scored his country's first goal against Uruguay.

Alexi Lalas, the former star of the American national team, said in statements to the American “Fox Soccer” channel: “I was with Piers Morgan, and he told me that Ronaldo had messaged him and told him that he scored the goal.” And he continued, "The urgent news is that Ronaldo did not score, although he claims to have touched the ball."

For his part, Spanish journalist Edo Aguirre revealed, on the famous Spanish program "El Chiringuito", that FIFA told its Portuguese counterpart that there was no evidence that Ronaldo had touched the ball.

According to the Spanish journalist, the Portuguese Football Association decided to send the evidence to its international counterpart, so that the goal for Ronaldo would be calculated at a later time.

It is noteworthy that the goal would have become historic for Ronaldo if it was awarded to him, as he would have become the historic scorer for Portugal in the World Cup with 9 goals, equally with the legend Eusebio.