Another World Cup Year, Another Disappointment

Sometimes I can have a limited knowledge in some sports but I do have a decently vague knowledge of the football.

Yes England played badly and yes there was THAT lampard goal that didn't get in. And yes, we had our arses handed to the germans for them to make bratwurst out of and sell back to us at an inflated price!

I do feel that testing a team's ability within 3-7 games is not a true reflection of how a team will play. Luck plays a pretty big part in tournaments like this and it's all about who's got the biggest hunger for the win, who has the bigger lion chasing right behind them and who has the bigger weapon to take down their foe. In other words, it's all about the balls!

Having said this, I cannot use this as an excuse for how England played, they played awful through all of that game (and against USA and Algeria) and the German's made frankfurters out of England's pigsty of their defence. Saying that, there was about 20-30 minutes of very good play during the end of the first half and about the start of the 2nd and it's a shame that only 2 actually went in and only 1 was counted.

Yes, the debate kicks off again with referee's and their mistakes. If there wasn't a big enough reason already as to why football is flawed, this is one of them. Lampard's goal was clearly in by a clear few yards and the whole world saw it except for 1 person. One person on that pitch who's only job is to check if that ball was in or not in that situation. (How hard can that be huh?)

I've compared the referee's on football to the referee's in WWE wrestling. Both have the final say in the final outcome and both are constantly argued about and can be at times more blind than Stevie Wonder. Of course WWE is acted whereas this World Cup is real.

The shot is almost a direct homage to the legendary 1966 match where Geoff Hurst has a similar position and the goal was (eventually) given. At the time, there were no goal technologies or camera angles to show that it was in. That was 44 years ago! Why are we still using 44 year old methods to detect a goal where in that time we have cameras, crowds and video technology to prove that it was in?! TV has shown when players are offside, when players are commiting fouls, every little bit of detail on the game. If this is the case, then why is football still living in the past and using age-old rules in a modern technological age of sports? We have all the technology in the world from robots, to cameras to visual aids and yet FIFA still insist on using the one pair of human eyes to determine a goal!

Mistakes are part of life and that has to be accepted through this. What infuriates me more is not reacting to the mistake. It's bad enough making the wrong decision but it's even worse not to do anything about it! Argentina and Mexico is another clear example. Tevez clearly offside for everyone to see, and even the Argentinians themselves said they were offside and the big screen showed it as well. The referee was aware of it and yet STILL no action was taken to change this! The refs require split second decisions and they are always decisions that don't have to be taken so quickly! Tennis and cricket has hawk eye, Rugby and American Football has video replays (even the bloody americans have a better way of determining calls and their footballs aren't even round!) to determine decisions, seriously FIFA, why not you? Your methods and traditions are more outdated than a petrified lump of cheese!

So there's my 2 cents. Football has too many flaws and stubborn policies. When the USA got knocked out, the New York Post wrote as their headline: "This Sport is Stupid Anyway". And I can't rephrase it any better myself...