Ronaldo and Portugal kept in World Cup by mysterious ‘technology nobody knew about’

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Football365

·3 July 2026

Ronaldo and Portugal kept in World Cup by mysterious ‘technology nobody knew about’

Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal remain in the World Cup thanks to use of a mysterious ‘technology nobody knew about’ against Croatia.

It sounds like that should be a much bigger story really.

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Also, Mateus Fernandes is basically Gazza.

All the time in the world for this opening paragraph from Martin Lipton in The Sun:

‘CRISTIANO RONALDO’S World Cup dream lives on – even though he watched the dramatic crucial moment from the DUG-OUT.’

He f**king well did WHAT?! The sodding DUG-OUT? That is absolutely ABSURD.

Also love the understandable yet inexplicable typo of ‘Josip Gvardiol’, Josko’s brother and Pep Guardiola’s non-trademark alter ego.

Do not love Lipton calling a corner a ‘flag-kick’, and not just because of the hyphen.

In great snick

Lipton foolishly did not catch ‘The technology nobody knew was being used that kept Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup dream with Portugal alive‘.

That is the The Sun website‘s headline about – again – the ‘technology nobody knew about’ which helped disallow Josip/Josko Gvardiol’s late goal for Croatia.

Mediawatch must have missed this so thanks for filling us in.

‘The ‘snicko’ graphic is similar to the tech used in cricket to confirm whether a ball has been edged by the batter or not.’

Wow. Who knew? Most people, obviously. It has already been used at this World Cup, quite memorably during Sweden’s win over Tunisia. It was also used at the last World Cup in Qatar, preventing some Cristiano Ronaldo silliness. It’s quite well-known at this stage.

‘But viewers were baffled that it is used in football.’

Were they? Really? They do have evidence – obviously just tweets from faceless accounts with a handful of followers – so let’s have it.

‘One said: “Wait fr? That’s actually insane. Fair enough.” ‘Another wrote: “For people embarrassing themselves calling a conspiracy this video shows clearly a touch. Snicko graph spikes at exact moment that player gets a touch. Great use of technology but people still want to moan.” ‘A third added: “What do you think about tech in football? Reckon it’s got a pretty good approval rate in Portugal tonight.” ‘A fourth commented: “Snicko in football is so funny to me for some reason.” ‘A fifth replied: “Incredible scenes using snicko to decide an outcome at a football World Cup. I’ve seen everything now.” ‘And a final user typed: “Game is just completely and irretrievably gone if we are gonna start adding cricket’s snicko technology on top of toenail offsides. This is sport, not a science experiment.”

We make that roughly one ‘baffled’ viewer, which definitely qualifies this as ‘the technology nobody knew was being used’.

Wyett noise

Behold, Charlie Wyett discovering the concept of timezones, live in his column for The Sun:

‘The squad will then train at altitude in Mexico City on Saturday ahead of the game on Sunday which has a local time of 6pm, even though it kicks-off at 1am.’

Not entirely sure how he’s managed to survive out there but fair play.

Deep Burn

Another Wyett piece in The Sun features a helpful comparison graphic showing just how sodding high the Azteca really is to scale.

All it does, however, is depict Dan Burn as a Godzilla-like threat to humanity:

Welcome Mat

In one of the weirder deployments of the risible first-person headline trope, the Manchester Evening News showcase a stunning lack of nuance and understanding:

‘I joined Tottenham over Man United for the money like Mateus Fernandes – I still regret it’

Not sure the cases of Paul Gascoigne in 1988 and Mateus Fernandes in 2026 are particularly comparable but go ahead.

As Kasra Moradi writes:

‘The England icon was all set to join the Reds from Newcastle, but a late change of heart, driven by the superior financial package offered by Spurs, resulted in a U-turn, with ‘Gazza’ snubbing United. ‘A whopping 38 years later, Mateus Fernandes of West Ham has seemingly done the same. The midfielder was one of United’s top transfer targets this summer, having held extensive discussions with club bosses in recent weeks, only to join the north Londoners in an £85million transfer. ‘Fernandes’ decision raised eyebrows, given the Old Trafford side secured a Champions League place last season while Spurs finished 17th in the Premier League. It is understood that the Portuguese, like Gascoigne, accepted the better financial package, though reports suggest United were also unwilling to match the £85m sum Spurs were willing to offer up front.’

The Portuguese accepted the one financial package he could, considering only Spurs were going to match West Ham’s demands and Manchester United pulled out of the race.

It’s not exactly the same as Gascoigne picking the option which landed his family a car, house, hotbed and £120,000 pay-off.

Spurred on

The same Manchester Evening News tells us:

‘Rafael Leao agreement reached after agent meeting as Man Utd land £80m advantage’

We’re all grown-ups here so know that ‘agreement reached after agent meeting’ is actually inevitably just Leao’s representatives and Milan deciding on his asking price.

But the idea that Spurs signing a brilliant player in Eli Junior Kroupi for £80m instead of targeting Leao can be perceived as ‘Man Utd land £80m advantage’ is pretty funny.

All in all ‘Rafael Leao agreement reached after agent meeting as Man Utd land £80m advantage’ is not quite the phenomenal news that headline implies when the story is basically that Manchester United could buy someone Spurs don’t want.

Mind you, Kroupi will be accused of joining Tottenham over Man United for the money like Gazza if he’s not careful.