Monday, October 11, 2010

It's About Time, FIFA

According to the Associated Press, FIFA is going to try out new goal-line systems in an attempt to correct the many errors made throughout the World Cup.  The article says they will be experimenting with "Hawk-Eye" technology, which is the same thing they use in tennis challenges.  I, being the skeptic as I am, am curious as to how accurate that technology is, I feel like it would be easy to fake and tamper with.  It's nice to be able to implement the technology that we already have.  This is the complete opposite thing baseball is doing.  They have the technology but aren't putting it to use.  There is no excuse for that.  Why wouldn't you do everything in your power to get things right?



Although this definitely helps the game, it wouldn't have helped in some of the controversial calls that took place in the 2010 World Cup.  First, the handball that Thierry Henry played to knock out Ireland and send France into the World Cup.  This would not have been a call that would be reviewable/changeable with the cameras implemented.  You would need another ref behind the goal, in which there is still no guarantee they would see it.  This also wouldn't have changed the result of the goal Carlos Tevez scored against Mexico, in which he was clearly offside, nor the goal the United States had called back against Slovenia which would've given them the 3-2 win.  The only instance in which goal-line technology would've made an impact is when Frank Lampard should've scored against Germany.  There's no guarantee the result would've been different, but the game itself would have been.

This technology is badly needed by the game of soccer, and this goal-line technology cannot be the only step that is taken to achieve the highest integrity of the game.  This can only be a step in the right direction.

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