Musings and Ramblings: A Little Technology Could Go a Long Way

For sports fans worldwide, the FIFA World Cup® has been a three-week-long odyssey as 32 teams have vied for the title of world’s best. With the roar of vuvuzelas providing the soundtrack, the tournament has borne witness to two major storylines.

The first storyline revolves around so many dramatic and athletic plays, as well as scale-tipping moments that have changed the fortune of nations looking to advance out of group play.

United States fans need only recall their team’s final group match with Algeria. With moments slipping away and the Yanks looking all but eliminated from the round of 16, a thrilling extra-minute goal from Landon Donovan snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Unfortunately the second storyline and perhaps more public issue of this year’s Cup tournament has been the spotlight on those who call the matches, the officials. A number of errors in judgment have affected multiple matches.

The United States was subject to a pair of judgment errors in their group matches. In the 20th minute of its match with Algeria a goal was called back when the referee ruled Clint Dempsey was offsides. A flurry of shots by the United States and Herculez Gomez ended up in a point blank finish by Clint Dempsey who truly did not appear to be in an offside position with an Algerian defender looking even.

Just one match earlier, in its encounter with Slovenia, the U.S. erased a 2-0 Slovenian lead to tie the match in the second half. The United States scored what should have been a game-winning goal in the 85th minute. I am still unsure whether offsides was called, or a penalty was called, but Michael Bradley was fouled on the play as a Slovenian player had him in a bear hug. Despite this, the United States scored, but shockingly the goal did not count. The call gave the United States only a single point for the eventual tie instead of the possible three points for a win.

Questionable calls were not limited to just the Stars and Stripes. Just this past Sunday there were two controversial calls in a pair of matches that could have stemmed the tide in both affairs.

In the Germany-England matchup and a 2-1 Germany lead, England’s Frank Lampard fired a shot that slipped by the German goalkeeper and struck the crossbar of the goal. The carom off the crossbar bounced down and made contact with the ground a full two feet over the goal line, which should have counted for a goal. However, both the referee and the assistant referee ruled the shot was not a goal. Instead of England equalizing the match, the score remained 2-1. England manager Fabio Capello admitted after the match that if the goal had counted, strategy for the second half with a knotted score would have differed from the plan with the team trailing.

In a game just hours later between Mexico and Argentina, Argentina was awarded a goal when a ball was scored by Carlos Tevez. Replay after the tally clearly illustrated the Argentinian player was offside and the goal should have been disallowed. Instead the score stood and Argentina went on to win the match.

The numerous controversies have sparked roaring debate over whether FIFA, the international soccer governing body, should change its stance regarding the usage of video and technology in these types of high-profile international matches. FIFA’s attitude is to keep all video and technology out of the game of soccer in order to play the game as they feel it is meant to be played, complete with judgment calls for better or worse.

FIFA has resisted the introduction of such technological aids as goal-line cameras and instant replay, arguing that those devices would rob the sport of its human element and interrupt the game's continuity. And it won't be until the next World Cup, coming up in Brazil in 2014, that five officials will oversee a match rather than the three officials currently in place. In addition, in an attempt to quell any uprisings over bad calls, FIFA has called for all stadiums to stop showing controversial plays on large screens in stadiums during matches for the rest of the World Cup tournament (how’s that for being proactive?).

Now I never profess to be a genius when it comes to “the beautiful game”, but even I can see how asinine it is that a sport has an opportunity to improve the quality and remove a large measure of controversy out of its game, yet choose not to do so.

I disagree with the comment from FIFA’s 74-year-old president Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, who was quoted last April as saying it would "not make sense to stop play every two minutes to review a decision as this would go against the natural dynamism of the game.”

From my assessment of the officiating snafus, simple goal-line technology as used in tennis to rule whether shots are in or out can be adapted to the game of soccer.

Regarding the use of instant replay, multiple options could be reviewed or implemented to ensure a more accurately called match. Replay could be utilized in questionable calls only upon a head coach/manager’s challenge. FIFA could give each coach one challenge to use, and a maximum amount of time (say, 90 seconds) would be allotted for an official to either get help from an official in the press box with a monitor seeing the replay, or watch the replay himself on the field.

Much like the current uses of replay in America’s major sports, scoring plays and only a few other instances (primarily coach challenges in football) are eligible for review. The same should be the case in soccer. I’m not saying FIFA needs to replace referees with robots, but using replay and technology in a limited yet effective measure would surely be lauded by nations around the world, especially those who felt they have been victims of human errors in officiating in this tournament and tournaments past.

With change comes resistance, but it only makes sense for FIFA to relent its stance. Following last weekend’s England/Germany match, robbed English scorer Lampard said "I don't know whether goal-line technology will change things, but technology would have made it 2-all today and given us big belief and confidence that we could beat the Germans." By being willing to show flexibility in this matter, the governing body of soccer could silence detractors and limit the heat the organization receives, in addition to better ensure that undisputed victors would emerge from group and knockout stage play.

Here’s hoping the remainder of this year’s World Cup won’t be tainted by further controversy and that FIFA will straighten up and fly right for the game’s sake.