People are already getting suspicious of the referees just a couple of minutes into the 2022 World Cup after Ecuador's opening goal against Qatar was ruled out for offside.
The thing is, to a lot of people watching it looked like Enner Valencia had scored a perfectly legitimate header, only for VAR to intervene and chalk off the goal.
The goal that never was came from a Pervis Estupinan free kick which was volleyed on by Felix Torres after Qatari keeper Saad Al Sheeb charged out and flapped at the ball.
Advert
Valencia was on hand to head the ball into the goal, but Ecuador's celebrations were premature after VAR told them it would be no goal after all.
Plenty have already taken this as a sign that some of the officials at the tournament are trying to give the host nation an easier ride and could be 'fixing' things to spare Qatar's blushes.
One person joked that it was a clear case of 'Qatar match fixing already lol', while a second said the refs were 'restarting to 0-0 after conceding inside three minutes' and said it's 'got to be match fixing'.
Another said it was 'bold of them to start match fixing' this early in the competition while someone else said 'match fixing allegations boutta go crazy'.
Valencia later got the first goal of the World Cup from the penalty spot after Al Sheeb grabbed his leg in the box.
The Ecuador captain then got a second goal with a header which wasn't chalked off this time.
Nevertheless, the early decision really set the tone for many viewer's opinions of the game with the jokes piling in claiming they were 'surprised they didn't give the penalty taker offside'.
VAR later showed their working to explain how the offside call had been given, with the flag raised against Ecuador's number 11 Michael Estrada for heading the ball back to Torres with his foot in an offside position.
Still, some weren't convinced at the decision, arguing over whether he had really been offside at the moment that the ball was played to him.
Nevertheless, the offside call was made and at time of writing Ecuador are 2-0 up after a pair of goals from Valencia, it's just a shame it's not a hat-trick for the forward.
Valencia might want to try and get that third goal quick as he's taken quite the battering from the Qatari players, with a stretcher even being brought on for him at one point.
Fortunately, he was able to get to his feet and resume playing.
Joe Harker