Soccer industry still in need of more technology

The World Cup has finally come to an end after 31 days of fierce competition. There has been a big controversy regarding the wrath of Brazilian citizens against the ignorant government, but fortunately the tournament has passed by without any serious accidents or casualties. However, there is a new problem that needs to be discussed; the wrong offside calls by the referee.

Starting from the 2014 Brazil World Cup, FIFA earnestly began to put goal-line technology into the games. This technology is basically a system that makes the watch on a referee’s wrist vibrate once the ball passes the line. That way, there is no worry at all about the referee misjudging the goal. FIFA’s new technology was proved efficient when the umpires relied on the system whenever the ball seemed ambiguous on the line.

Unfortunately, now, it looks like the association will need to start working on another significant technology: offside technology. During the competition, there were actually quite a few teams that suffered due to outrageous decisions regarding offside calls. For instance, during the game between Mexico and Cameroon in Group A, two legitimate goals were inequitably ruled out. Mexico had scored two legal goals in the first half, but both of them were robbed because the linesman called offside even though the Mexican forward was not at all in an offside position. Not once, but twice. Had Mexico not scored in the second half to achieve a very difficult 1-0 victory, the Mexicans would have been completely enraged.

Tragedy struck again in the match between Nigeria and Bosnia of Group F. This was a very critical matchup in that the winner was likely to go along with the group leader Argentina to the Round of 16. The Bosnians showed real spirit in the first half and it seemed to pay off when the Bosnian captain, Edin Dzeko, netted in his first goal of the competition. The linesman called offside on Dzeko’s goal. Astonishingly, the replays showed that Dzeko was clearly onside when the pass was executed to him. The Bosnian players were completely deprived of their golden opportunity to lead 1-0 in a pivotal game. To worsen the matters, Nigeria scored in the second half to obtain a 1-0 victory in the end. Bosnia was stunned and infuriated, but the game was already over.

FIFA has been very affirmative toward making new policies and technologies that can enhance the quality and fluency of the game. While goal-line technology stands as a great achievement, offside technology must also be promoted. It cannot be denied that Bosnia would have had higher probability of advancing to further rounds if the goal by Dzeko was to be acknowledged. To preclude any of the same mistakes at the 2018 Russia World Cup, FIFA should come up with solutions and prevent the wrong decisions from exerting a great amount of influence on the games played.

By Song Ye-jun, Student in Korea