Take a good look at those six still photos (from the Associated Press) taken during the 2010 World Cup. See how the ball is clearly across the goal line, but know that it was not ruled a goal. England would have tied its match with Germany 2-2 with that Frank Lampard shot. Instead, it lost 4-1.
But that loss was soccer's gain.
Because that goal call was blown by on-field refs, FIFA has committed to goal-line technology for the 2014 World Cup, it was announced Tuesday. That single play was the clear impetus, as noted in this story:
Before the 2010 World Cup, (FIFA president Sepp) Blatter had long opposed taking the human element of decision-making from referees. He changed his stance after seeing match officials miss Lampard's shot bounce off the crossbar and land fully over the goal line in Bloemfontein. England would have leveled at 2-2 before halftime but lost 4-1 in the second round.
Blatter said two days later that FIFA should reopen the debate, although video replay remains off-limits for judgment calls.
Hey, goal reviews are a start. It's an easy thing to fix, much as home run/no home run is for baseball. So FIFA will pick a company and get the technology installed for the next World Cup to determine if a ball crossed the goal line.
Now the only question, really, is will the U.S. squad be in Brazil to use it?
