10 Terrible Refereeing Decisions That Changed World Cup Games
6. USSR Vs. Belgium (1986)
One of the most entertaining, memorable, and controversial World Cup games of all time, the round of 16 clash between the Soviet Union and Belgium finished 2-2 after 90 minutes and ended 4-3 to the Belgians after extra time, but a big argument could be made that the game should never have made it past the 90 minute mark.
The Soviet Union side would have given anything for VAR during that game, as both of Belgium's regular time goals were widely-considered to be offside. The Soviets opened the scoring through Igor Belanov in the 27th minute, with Belgium's Enzo Scifo equalising in the 56th. With the TV footage, it's hard to tell whether or not Scifo was offside, but he certainly seemed that way to many fans.
Belanov put the Soviet Union back in the lead in the 70th minute, but Belgium once again got back into the game. This time, the offside was even more obvious as Jan Ceulemans was well behind the last defender as he chested the ball down and tucked it home. The Belgians went on to score twice more in extra time to seal the victory, even though Belanov pulled one back and claimed an impressive hat-trick.