Football - A game of errors

The stage is set for the two giants of EPL at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea and Manchester United are locking horns for the first time in a new season.

The mouth-watering clash is tied at 2-2 until the 75^th minute approaches.

In Chelsea’s penalty box, Robin Van Persie shoots a low shot towards the goal but it is valiantly stopped by Petr Cech. The ball rebounds off his hands and Chicharito of Man Utd runs towards the unguarded ball, but it is cleared again by Cech. Chicharito gets out of the Chelsea goal after tumbling in it, only to score from a speedy cross by Rafael.

The first thing he did after scoring was to check with the linesman for any offside. The flag stays down and the visitors are enthralled.

The replays suggested an altogether different picture, as what looked like a great goal against the table toppers was actually sheer luck, since Chicharito was offside.

What came next was the rant of Chelsea fans over the misjudged goal which cost them a point and saw a relieved Man Utd side getting all the 3 points.

Who is to be blamed for this mishap? Not Chicharito, because he was doing what he should be doing. Cech? Not at all, because he did all he could. The linesman is the favorite culprit since he was the one who had to decide on the matter.

But since things in football happen at the speed of light, they are hard to be detected by a human eye. And at the same time, these things matter a lot to the teams, to the fans and to the business of sports. One error and things can go upside-down for many.

Goal-line Problem

Offside problem is not the only thing that needs to be dealt by football. Think about the adversity of England when they were denied an actual equalizer from Frank Lampard against Germany in the knockout match of 2010 FIFA World Cup. The shot hit the cross bar and bounced inside the goal, but the linesman failed to see that. Again, humans are bound to err.

This situation caused a massive uproar with FIFA being pressurized into accepting Goal-line Technology. Similar things happened at 2012 Euro, this time England benefited.

Such a situation has become a norm in today’s football. Some teams are getting the benefits while some are at the receiving end. With such a huge problem to address, FIFA has finally decided to use Goal-line technology in this year’s Club World Cup to be held in December 2012.

The adaptation is still deemed as a final test in order to check the system’s efficiency during live action. Major technology providers are Hawk-Eye and GoalRef. If this problem is addressed successfully, then a major crisis will be averted.

Beauty becomes beast

Football is labelled as the best game all around the world. Followers say the beauty of the game lies in its speed. Matches change within seconds, something that is loved by the fans. But this beauty of speed is actually causing many problems for the game.

According to FIFA, any technology they use should provide the output within a second. There is no doubt that such technologies are currently available but some aspects of the game require stoppages. The hand ball detection is also one of the many problems.

Replays can easily identify all the problems, be it offside or goal-line, or even the hand balls, a bad tackle or the new problem of diving; The answer to all these problems lies in a small delay. A small replay can assist the referees in providing pin-point decisions.

It is time for the fans to take a call on this delay. Speed has been the basic element of Football, but if the same thing is producing unfair results then it’s time to rectify it. If fans cannot sacrifice this beautiful aspect, then FIFA should help bring up newer technologies which I am sure are present. The only thing required is to find the correct and the best ones.