When Fifa awarded the United States the rights to the 1994 World Cup, there remained some apprehension.

It was the first time the tournament was to be held in the States, a great chance to grow the game to a massive audience, but what if no-one showed up? The US already had vast arenas used to host homegrown sports, filling them with fans who did not even know how football was played was another matter.

Such was the indifference to the game that US commentators would frequently explain the rules and concepts before kick-off.

It did not help that the previous World Cup, Italia ’90, had seen the fewest average goals per game – runners up Argentina scored five goals in seven games. Something needed to change.

So Fifa came up with ideas. They increased group stage points for a win from two to three, banned back passes and, significantly in today’s climate, relaxed the offside rule.

Referees were ordered not to penalise players not interfering with play, and not to call marginal offsides. The former stands to this day, the latter has been drowned in technology and could barely look different.

The picture Uefa produced to explain why Henrikh Mkhitaryan was ruled offside to deny him a winning goal in Inter Milan’s 3-3 draw against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final shows VAR is broken.