Colombia thought they had secured a perfect finish to their Group K dominance, but a VAR decision ruled out Davinson Sánchez's goal, leaving them to ponder what could have been.
The Colombian end erupted when Sánchez rose inside the box and headed the ball down into the net, but the flag was raised, and VAR intervened.
The decision was brutal, but it was not mysterious. Sánchez was offside by the smallest possible margin - a toe.
The offside law is clear: a player is in an offside position if any part of their head, body, or feet that can legally score is nearer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last defender.
Hands and arms are ignored, but a foot counts, and in Sánchez's case, that was decisive. His toe had gone beyond the line.
The corner detail is also important: there is no offside directly from a corner kick, but Colombia recycled the ball and crossed from the next phase, resetting the offside line.
The controversy came because the margin was so absurdly small, but modern semi-automated/VAR-assisted offside decisions are not judged on whether the advantage feels meaningful.
They are judged on the body-part line, and in this case, Sánchez's goal was disallowed because his toe was offside when the cross was delivered.
