Football's governing body FIFA has backed its video assistant referees for deciding that the ball was still in play before Japan scored their second goal in Thursday's 2-1 win over Spain.
The victory meant the Blue Samurai topped the group ahead of Spain. Had they drawn, Germany would have qualified for the last 16 instead.
"Japan’s second goal in their 2-1 win over Spain was checked by VAR to determine if the ball had gone out of play. The video match officials used the goal line camera images to check if the ball was still partially on the line or not," a FIFA statement said on Friday.
"Other cameras may offer misleading images but on the evidence available, the whole of the ball was not out of play."
The debate about the curvature of a football and whether it was out of play has been the dominant theme on social media since the game, with thousands of memes being produced.
Rather than moan about the call, the majority of German media have concentrated on their own side's failings as they crashed out in the group stage for the second straight edition.
