Cristiano Ronaldo plucked the ball out of the Thursday night Toronto sky with his right foot, let it bounce once off the grass, and chipped it over Croatian keeper Dominik Livaković.
As the ball landed in the net, the talismanic forward peeled away in celebration in front of an exuberant sea of Portuguese red. Mid-rotation in his signature celebration, however, he stopped in his tracks. Across the pitch, the linesman's flag was raised, ruling Ronaldo offside.
A quick review from the VAR confirmed the decision, but as images from the Semi-Automated Offside Technology flashed across the stadium screen, Ronaldo threw his hands in the air in exasperation. The goal had been called off by the slimmest of margins — Ronaldo's left shoulder was slightly ahead of the second-last defender.
It is one of many inch-tight offside calls during the ongoing World Cup that have caused debate across the soccer community. Earlier in the tournament, for example, Colombian defender Davinson Sánchez was ruled offside by the length of his toe — cancelling a goal that would have been a stoppage-time winner against Portugal.
Many have wondered aloud if there is a different way to judge offside. In partnership with FIFA, the Canadian Premier League is testing just that during the 2026 season by trialling the Daylight Offside rule, spearheaded by legendary manager Arsène Wenger.
Under this alternative law, a player is only offside if his entire body is ahead of the second-last defender — i.e., there is daylight between the two players. The idea behind the rule is to give a clearer threshold of separation between defender and attacker, increasing the flow of matches and creating a greater attacking advantage.
If this rule were in place at this summer's tournament, 17 goals, including Ronaldo's, disallowed for offside would more than likely have stood. There were two in Thursday's Portugal-Croatia match alone; Croatia's Petar Sucic's 80th-minute disallowed goal also would have counted under the rule currently being trialled in the CPL.
Iran's late winner that wasn't against Egypt would have stood, as would the aforementioned Sánchez header. Golden boot leaders Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé would have one more goal each. The impact on the already electric tournament would have been immense.
Conversely, only seven of the 24 goals that were disallowed for offside at the World Cup had clear daylight between the attacker and defender, and thus would have been disallowed under the rule being trialled in the CPL. That includes Josko Gvardiol's stoppage-time effort for Croatia on Thursday.
Like the rest of the soccer world, CPL players and managers have been watching plenty of this summer's tournament. Perhaps, in seeing some of the ways that players like Ronaldo and Mbappé have been denied goals by mere inches, they can identify more opportunities to take advantage of a different offside line in the CPL.
It is a story to watch in the second half of the Canadian Premier League season. But it will also draw increased international attention, given the natural audit of the laws of the sport that come with the scrutiny and exposure at a World Cup.
Main Photo: OneSoccer