Translation Sniper

Wow, England got absolutely hammered. They played absolutely horribly the first 30 minutes – I guess the US isn’t the only team having trouble early in games.

1) A lot of people are going to point to the final score and say that the non-call on Lampard’s goal didn’t change the outcome of the game. I guess that is factually correct – England were horrible on defense the entire game, it seemed like every time the ball was near the England goal there were 2 or 3 white German shirts and nary a red shirt to be seen. That said – I think starting the second half all level at 2-2 is quite a bit different then starting out down a goal. Don’t know if it would have changed the outcome – after all, England had an entire half to pull level, so it wasn’t like they were pushing everyone forward for a goal, and they still got burned repeatedly. But it is an unfortunate blemish on the game that will detract from the awesome German performance.

2) Outcome of the game aside, FIFA should be absolutely embarrassed. Lampard hit an amazing shot that hit the top cross bar and bounced at least a foot inside the goal line. Everyone in the stadium, everyone on TV, saw it was a goal – everyone, apparently except the three officials on the pitch. In that respect, I have to give the German goal tender all the credit in the world for his acting performance – he had to have known the ball was behind him – yet he grabbed the ball and quickly threw it out to keep the ball in play. 

Either way, however:  FIFA should be ashamed. The World Cup is the highlight of their sport. It’s played only once every four years. Countries spend millions – nay, billions – of dollars getting teams through qualifying to play in the most prestigious tournament of any sport in the world – and you’re going to tell me they can’t even figure out how to keep score properly? Judgement calls are one thing – think holding calls in American Football, or balls/strikes in baseball. But American Football has it just about right – if it comes down to clear non-judgement calls (in-bound/out-of-bound, ball over the line for a touchdown or not?), a quick video replay removes all doubt. Plays (such as off-side/on-side) that result in goals should be reviewable. Whether the ball crossed the line or not should be reviewable. End of story. Make it happen.

And let me just say – people that complain that video replay would ‘slow down the game’ have obviously never seen a real soccer game. The game slows to a crawl every time a player flops dives  succumbs to the inevitable pull of gravity at the slightest of nudges as the other team prepares for a free kick. I’ve seen marching bands get in formation faster.

3) After thinking that I was getting used to the vuvuzela, for the first time this World Cup I heard the England fans singing…and it made me realize that I really miss the songs and chants at the World Cup. I am already looking forward to 2014 in Brazil….