WATCH: England Tried to Score While Croatia Was Celebrating Go-Ahead Goal
England lost 2–1 to Croatia after extra time in their World Cup semifinal on Wednesday, but not before trying to equalize in tricky fashion.
Mario Mandzukic scored the game-winning goal for Croatia in the 109th minute, and while the team was celebrating, England tried to pull a fast one and score with Croatia's outfield players all off the pitch behind the English end line. Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford quietly restarted and managed to get into Croatia's box before the referee called them back.
The play wasn't shown on TV — viewers saw Croatia celebrating. But fans in the stands captured the moment (in which Rashford was in an offside position to receive Lingard's return pass directly off the restart before breaking forward).
This kind of scenario has come up on a couple other occasions during the World Cup, with the idea being, according to International Football Association Board rules, that one player must be on the opposing team's side field or else a quick restart can be taken while teams are celebrating. The rule states that "all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of play," and some teams have elected to interpret that as the players fully off the field of play entirely are not subjected to the guidelines.
Both Portugal and England appeared to adhere to that in the group stage, with both making sure to keep one player on the opposing side's half of the field while celebrating dramatic goals. But according to IFAB rules, play can only resume at the referee's signal, even if all of the other conditions of the rule are met.
England, after its loss and its sneaky attempt, will take on Belgium in third-place game on Saturday–their second meeting of the World Cup after a 1-0 Belgium win in the group stage secured first place in Group G. Croatia and France play in the final on Sunday.
