Explained: FIFA reveals how adidas match ball technology showed Ronaldo didn’t score goal against Uruguay

FIFA has revealed why Portugal’s opener against Uruguay was not awarded to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo. 

​All-time great thought he’d netted vs UruguayEffort was awarded to team-mate FernandesProof provided that Ronaldo didn’t get a touch

WHAT HAPPENED? The 37-year-old frontman thought he had his second effort of the 2022 World Cup when the deadlock was broken in a cagey Group H encounter on Monday. Ronaldo believed he had got the faintest of touches to a whipped cross from Bruno Fernandes which nestled in the bottom corner, but FIFA – with the help of cutting-edge technology from match ball suppliers adidas – has explained why the all-time great was not credited with another international goal for his record-setting collection.

WHAT THEY SAID: A statement from FIFA provided to ESPN reads: “In the match between Portugal and Uruguay, using the Connected Ball Technology housed in adidas’s Al Rihla Official Match Ball, we are able to definitively show no contact on the ball from Cristiano Ronaldo for the opening goal in the game. No external force on the ball could be measured as shown by the lack of ‘heartbeat’ in our measurements. The 500Hz IMU sensor inside the ball allows us to be highly accurate in our analysis.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: FIFA’s latest World Cup ball allows real-time data to be fed to match officials, helping with offside decisions and goal calls, but Fernandes has already shrugged off the debate regarding who should have been given the breakthrough effort against Uruguay. After going on to net a late penalty that wrapped up a 2-0 win, the Manchester United midfielder said: “I celebrated [the goal] as if it had been Cristiano’s goal. It seemed to me that he had touched the ball. My aim was to cross the ball for him. We are happy with the victory regardless of who scored. The most important thing is that we achieved our aim which is to be in the next round.”

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WHAT NEXT? Portugal have booked their place in the last 16 with victories over Ghana and Uruguay, meaning that they can relax and rotate in a final group stage outing against South Korea on Friday.