Today is a dark day for FIFA. In the first game England's second goal was incredibly not called by the referee after the ball hit the top post, bounced nearly 1m inside the goal and then bounced out. In the Mexico-Argentina game, Argentina's first goal was validated even though the scoring player was clearly in offside position (seemed to be at least 2-3 meters). Though it's hard to deny that Germany and Argentina were the better teams in the respective matches and deserved to win, it also cannot be denied that such calls changed the trajectory of both matches in irreversible ways, especially since both calls came at a time when England, Mexico were playing better and had momentum on their sides. These of course are not the only bad calls of this world cup. So far we've had a legitimate goal annulled to the US in their game against Slovenia (for no apparent reason), a mystery red card given to Kaka in Brazil's game against Ivory Coast, and--in a qualification match--the refs allowed an incredible hand aided assist by France's Henri in their final decisive match against Ireland.
The question is--what will FIFA do to rectify this situation? In the past the argument has always been that any type of review would cause an unnatural pause in the game. This argument seems absurd in light of the fact the game is frequently paused when players argue with the refs after making such calls, or when players feign injuries to delay the game, etc. Moreover, today, unlike 20 or even 10 years ago, we have the technology to avoid such bad calls. I have four ideas I think FIFA should consider:
1. Have an extra "video review" ref that is in direct contact with the central ref and could review any play in 1 minute or less.
2. Give all refs a video "iphone" they can carry on their belts at all times to instantly review any call.
3. Install a chip inside the ball that would detect when the ball is inside the goal or out of bounds, etc. Chips in players shoes could also automatically detect when a players in the offside position, etc.
4. Allow for 1 "coach" challenge per game, to be video-reviewed within a 2 minute time limit.
What do you think? Could any of these be successfully implemented? What is clear is that something has to change for 2014.
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The British press found out that the ref for the England match had actually been suspended for 6 months for "irregularities"...!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this?
http://daveschneider.co.uk/2010/06/englands-no-goal/
OMG! denying England's goal against Germany was so uncool! the ball was clearly inside the line. How can FIFA let go such error! The players should have stopped playing and protested. the ref might be suspended for six months, but the heartbreak, grief and frustration caused by this mistake to the players and millions of viewers would take ages to heal.
ReplyDeleteRe-Argentina: Though am a die hard fan of Argentina, the first goal by Travis was indeed an off side...I screamed my lungs out when Travis scored the goal but wasn't really feeling good about it later. But at the end of the match, their 3 goals against 1 made me cheer up again!
And Jac, I like option # 4 to allow 1 challenge by the players to be video-reviewed.
Here is to a fun week ahead to all of you!
Very funny page Deb! I guess the president of FIFA is finally open to taking a look at technology and "apolgized" for the errors. Let's hope they move forward with some of these changes by 2014.
ReplyDeletehttp://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/world-cup-s-best-call-blatter-reconsiders-replay--fbintl_dw-blatter062910.html