Allowing players to play the World Cup with a
wacky-flying redesigned ball
is fine with FIFA. Allowing people to review where the ball did or didn’t go, however—that’s reckless use of technology. FIFA says
“a clear mistake” was made in the Argentina-Mexico game
, the Associated Press reports:
Angry Mexico players protested to referee Roberto Rosetti after the screens in Johannesburg’s Soccer City showed Argentina forward Carlos Tevez was offside before he scored the opening goal in a 3-1 victory on Sunday.
No, not the blown call—the mistake was letting people see a replay of the blown call. FIFA is immovably opposed to using video review to fix blown calls. If the refs do get it wrong, there’s nothing that can be done about it. So players and stadium spectators will no longer be able to see replays. Problem solved!
