I didn't watch the game because it was going to air during a time that I would not be able to and also continue to be employed.   I did read a lot about it after the fact and while I am happy that Japan will advance because I have a soft spot for Asian teams in the World Cup, the celebrations is kind of marred by a very bad mistake on the part of the officials.

Personally, I feel that VAR should have caught this and the fact that it hasn't suggests to me that there might be some playing favorites that is going on with the officiating.  That would be truly tragic if it was true.

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I don't think anyone really gave Japan a shot at winning this game.  They were massive underdogs on the betting lines.  After seeing the thrashing that Spain had given other teams, it seemed as though Japan was just going to try to not get embarrassed.   Well they didn't get embarrassed at all and now are flying high.  

There is some controversy on one of the goals with many fans complaining that the ball actually went out of bounds before the shot took place.

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This has been making the rounds on social media from multiple angles and it is kind of confusing to me that this goal wasn't disallowed after the fact.

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The best explanation of why the goal was allowed comes from the rules themselves regarding out of play:  the ball is out when “it has wholly passed over the goal line or touchline on the ground or in the air."  This can be really tough to determine because if something is hovering over a line, it can be very difficult to determine, especially at an angle, whether or not it is actually fully over the line or not.  

In the end, and it took a REALLY LONG TIME for the VAR officials to come to a decision, the goal was allowed.  

Try and put whatever bias you have aside for a second and look very closely at those pictures.  It actually does look like a small portion of the ball is, in fact, hovering over the touch line.   I'm sure this was a very difficult decision to make but in the end I agree with it.  We are talking a millimeter here and even if it was a tiny bit over the line, this doesn't change the fact that this definitely wasn't deliberate, would never be used as an actual tactic, and taking the goal away (which was a brilliant goal btw) would set a bad precedent in my opinion.    

Both Spain and Japan end up going through to the knockout stages anyway so it doesn't affect them a great deal.   

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It is pretty remarkable that Japan ended up winning when you look at the statistics.  If you were to look at only these stats and then ask someone which team do you think won, no one would choose the team on the left.   

Personally I am still very happy that VAR is a part of the game as we are already seeing a dramatic decline in the amount of theatrics that players are utilizing in the hopes of getting a free kick.   This VAR intervention for the goal in this game was probably one of the toughest decisions that have had to be made since its implementation and for me, I think the decision was a correct one.