Risdon claims touch in World Cup tackle

Josh Risdon's sliding tackle on Antoine Griezmann was the moment of the match, coming as Australia turned the tide against the footballing heavyweights.

And crucially, the Western Sydney defender is claiming he got his foot to the ball before collecting the Frenchman, making his tackle a legal one.

"I felt like I definitely got first touch on the ball. I was confident in that. It might have been a little touch but I definitely did clip it," he said.

Uruguayan referee Andres Cunha originally waved play on but reviewed the incident with the use of the video assistant referee (VAR).

After examining replays, he changed his decision to award a penalty, which Griezmann converted to give France the lead.

The incident was the turning point in a high-octane encounter in Kazan.

Until that moment, Australia appeared to have weathered numerous French attacks and were beginning to build their own chances.

Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak replied with a penalty four minutes later but the match had been turned on its head.

Risdon, who has experience with the VAR system through its season-long A-League trial, suggested the decision was wrong.

"My understanding is if its a clear-cut wrong decision then it can get overturned but I felt like I definitely got the ball, so I don't think it was a clear-cut wrong decision," he said.

"I didn't think it would get overturned."

Goalkeeper Mat Ryan said the incident happened at "a million miles an hour" but he trusted Risdon.

"I feel hard done by. I don't feel like we were beaten by a better team, almost by technology," he said.

"Speaking to Josh afterwards ... I don't think he's a liar.

"The technology was brought in to take out clear cut errors ... but that's the grey area.

"What's a clear cut error and what's not? What's conclusive and what's not?

"I'm looking for a better explanation of it now.

"We gave it everything we had and it's a hard one to digest."

Coach Bert van Marwijk preferred instead to celebrate Risdon's overall performance than buy into the controversy.

"From my position, I couldn't see it really well, I thought at first it was no penalty," he said.

"But the performance of Risdon was very, very, very well ... (right back) was a position for a lot of problems for the national team.

"He's made a remarkable progress the last months and so I was very happy with his performance."

Australian Associated Press