Ecuador's First Goal Against Qatar Overturned on Controversial Offsides Call

The very first game of the 2022 World Cup pitted the home country of Qatar against Ecuador. The visitors did not take long to get things going and scored an epic goal on a bicycle kick assist merely five minutes into the match.

The goal was then overturned by VAR review. The referees declared Ecuador was offsides. Replay suggests they were not offsides at all. Hm!

After a VAR check, this did not count for Ecuador pic.twitter.com/cn5GYfQz18
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 20, 2022

Yes, that is not offside.

5 minutes into the World Cup, are you kidding? pic.twitter.com/wsA501ajrm
— Has the Referee or VAR made a poor decision? (@PoorEPLreferees) November 20, 2022

It does not take a soccer aficionado to realize this was a terrible call. Terrible calls will happen during any game of any sport and the attention is only heightened by it happening on an international stage, but it does feel awfully suspicious that the first controversial call of the tournament favored the home squad.

But Qatar has done everything above board to this point, so why question it, right?