A tiny wave of motion wobbling along a screen brought Croatia players to their knees and sent Portugal through to the World Cup last 16 on Thursday night. The Snickometer or 'Snicko' as it is more widely known, is technology invented by an English computer scientist more familiar to cricket fans having been used since the 1990s and has never had a more high-profile or controversial moment. With Portugal leading 2-1 deep into stoppage time in Toronto, Croatia thought they'd fired in the most dramatic equaliser imaginable through Josko Gvardiol.But their jubilation was brutally cut short. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) had to determine whether the ball had flicked the head, or in this case hair, of Igor Matanovic before coming off a Portugal player and landing at the feet of another Croatian - who was offside if it did touch his team-mate and onside if it didn't. The tension in the stadium was almost unbearable and most of the fans present were perhaps unaware of the advanced technology used to make a definitive judgement. The VAR was given access to information produced by a microchip implanted into every Adidas Trionda ball used at the World Cup.
<p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p>
