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Sneak Peak At FIFA Goal Line Technology For The World Cup

After years of debate in the futbol community, World Cup 2014 will be the first in history to feature the new goal-line technology instituted by FIFA. 

FIFA appointed the German firm "GoalControl" to be the official technology of choice for the tournament. It’s about time this technology is introduced to futbol, after sports like cricket, rugby and tennis have been using it for years. While a debate has raged around a similar technology in baseball to determine balls and strikes (a more subjective call), it makes plain sense for FIFA to implement this technology in soccer as it allows scoring plays to be reviewed.

The system costs around $136,000-$230,000 and utilizes 14 cameras around the stadium. All of these cameras send digital pictures to a data room within the stadium. After the data is analyzed, a signal will be sent to a special watch worn by the referee with the word “GOAL" if the entire ball is over the line. It’s a quick process that will take less than a second (compared to every other sports review process). Here is a video of how the entire system will work in Brazil:

 

The technology will eliminate situations like the one Frank Lampard faced at the World Cup in 2010. Lampard clearly scored this beauty against Germany and was robbed of glory. It would have been an equalizer for The Three Lions in the round of 16. Instead, Lampard was clearly dejected and enraged after the missed call, and Germany went on to win the match easily.                       

Lampard's goal wasn’t the only time the course of a World Cup match was changed by a missed call. In the 1966 World Cup final, Geoff Hurst had a similar situation to Lampard, yet his goal was counted, giving England a 3-2 lead over West Germany - eventually winning them the World Cup. You be the judge: 

 Who knows if we will need the technology in World Cup 2014 considering how rare these situations are. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. Now it’s time for the rest of the world to jump on board. UEFA, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and MLS, it’s time. 

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