A Day of Shame for World Cup Referees

England's Frank Lampard reacts after his goal was incorrectly ruled out for not crossing the line in the game versus Germany.

/ AP Tony Marshall

It was as if England goalkeeper Robert Green played twice on the same day and twice managed to let a simple shot bounce comically off his hands and into the goal.

How likely would that have been?

Can there ever have been a day in which two World Cup games were so fundamentally altered by two decisions that were, to most naked, neutral and living eyes, as wrong as a head of state dropping his trousers to sing his national anthem?

Is it truly possible that far too many officials in these World Cup finals are distant cousins of Jim Joyce, the umpire who took away a perfect Detroit Tigers game with a perfectly awful call?

Both of Sunday's games--England/Germany and Argentina/Mexico--were fundamentally affected by terrible first half calls from assistant referees.

The word "terrible" somehow seems inadequate.

In the England game, the Uruguayan assistant referee was perfectly positioned to see that Frank Lampard's shot was more than a yard over the line.

Were his eyes shut? Or was his mind?

That game would have gone to 2-2, a charitable score given Germany's superiority, but the right one.

These things happen once in a lifetime, though.

Or, perhaps, as Sunday proved, twice in a day.

Mexico was holding favorite Argentina until another decision that will make some merely embarrassed for the assistant referee and others consider that there is something a little more nefarious with its hand on the assistants' flags.

Carlos Tevez was not merely slightly offside. There was room for at least two Carlos Tevezes between him and the last defenders.

The charitable, the hopeful and the sycophantic will say that, in each case, the best team won in the end.

But football is emotional. A team can be sailing one minute and sunk the next.

England and Mexico both did something right.

The former scored, the latter moved up to leave Tevez offside. They were punished for being right.

Those more fond of theories that involve hushed conspiracies and manipulative dealings, might offer that calls such as these seem so often to go against certain teams.

The last time Germany suffered one of these seems like 1966. The last time Argentina suffered one of these was in the 1990 World Cup final.

Strangely, it was playing the more fancied Germany.

Yet countries like the U.S (name your World Cup) and England (Hand of God) seem to have had a little more than their unfair share.

Perhaps they are merely unlucky. Perhaps not.

FIFA's explanation that it doesn't want to see technology in the game lives in that area in which the odd co-habits with the blind and the untrustworthy.

The officials are currently linked to each other--and this includes the fourth referee, whose intervention turned the 2006 World Cup final--by microphones and headphones.

Does FIFA truly not categorize this as technology? Are these merely toys?

What would prevent an official in a plush box with a nice HD TV also being linked by these frighteningly modern devices to the referee?

"Hey, stupid. The ball was over line. My Mother could see that. And she's in Budapest." he might whisper.

Or perhaps: "Oh my Gawd...did you see how far offside Tevez was? How many beers did you down last night?"

This wouldn't make the game last longer.

After the Argentina/Mexico offside decision, the Italian referee enjoyed a long, spirited chinwag with his assistant from the same country.

And still they got it wrong.

How long before FIFA digs itself out of the mid-20th century, and staggers into the 21stt?

Or does it somehow suit it not to?

Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing, and an avid sports fan. He is also the author of the popular CNET blog Technically Incorrect.

See also:

England's Inferiority Complex vs. Germany
U.S. Aims to Create Miracle on Grass
U.S. Must Unleash "Gladiator" Hell
North Korea Coach Falls On His Sword
New Zealand Makes Lambs Out of Italy
Slovenia Small Guys Teach U.S. a Big Lesson
South Africa Falls to a Tragedy of Errors
Swiss Make Melted Cheese Out of Spain
North Korea Spooks Brazil
Paraguay Tries to Be Italy, Almost Beats Italy
World Cup: Germany and Ghana Buzz the U.S. Team
World Cup: U.S. Lets England Put Egg on Its Own Face

[akinos2009]

Maybe they United States and England once they get out of their "Western World " back yard cannot compete in a third world climate.

[novamba]

I can see an argument for the UK GER match but the MEX ARG was never in question...Mex never stood a chance, although the call was bad.

[Turbidite]

FIFA needs more, and better trained, officials on the field to account for all that is going on. As for instant replay, they could use the limited challenge concept as the AFL and NFL rules allow. "Slowing the game down too much" is the same argument that was used in American football only to prove incorrect.

[ahrats]

FIFA is a joke your assitant and regular referee's have no concept of the game and definatily lack experiance. FIFA like the ref's to decide the outcome games and not the players. That originaztion should be dumped for something better, at least revue goals scored because your ref's can not seem to get it right, oh that how FIFA wants it with today technology. Now I know why I do not care for FIFA or your sport, players can just lie down to kill time and nothing is done to speed it up, Germany is a bunch of ceaters, the golie knew it was in but should have thrown to first english player and let them score, good sportmansship,Players need to make-up for the ref's mistakes at least the Americans do they let Ghana have all the time they wanted without pressing the advantage. It's time for FIFA to wake-up to the 21st centruy.

[dakotaclark]

Hmmm...

UNFORTUNATELY, there are waaay tooo many ATNAs who are sports fans.
Those are people who are ALL TALK, NO ACTION.

The millions of sports fans who are disappointed with the officiating at the World Cup events this year, need to let FIFA know about your concerns and thoughts.

Here is the link to make comments to FIFA:
http://www.fifa.com/contact/form.html

Now, get of your dead butts and do something about it!!

[bajajohn1]

Techology? Years of preparation and way too much money involved in FIFA soccer to let errant referees blow the game for any particular team. In the Mexico and British matches, the exhuberance of both losing teams was immediately noticeable. Either the rederees need better training or technology must be adopted.

[newschunky]

It will be worthwhile to watch what happens to FIFA. Soccer is a world sport and if the world community wants any credibility a major overhaul of its policy needs to be demanded otherwise nobody will want to participate in the Future nor will media want to sponsor such a pathetic venue. I've watched more Soccer in this World Cup than I have my whole life and I doubt I will watch anymore if this is what you have to expect. Officials should never be able to change the outcome of a game. It's one thing to have it happen once but twice in a day not to mention earlier games. I imagine the governing board FIFA is filled with Political Appointees that care more of they're hotel accommodations, 1st Class Airline bookings and Political stature than getting Officials that know how to officiate a game correctly. They would probably rather have everyone listen to the World Cup thru the radio or by newspaper than realize that a billion or more people are watching the event in HD TV.

[bradkt1]

Although I favor the use of technology, there has to be limits on its use in the context of the sport involved. In soccer, I wouldn't rely on technology to say that a player is offsides anymore than I would in U.S. football. Likewise, I wouldn't use technology to determine whether a foul has been committed. Either the referee sees it or he doesn't.

I would use technology to determine whether a goal has been scored or whether a ball is out of bounds and who last touched it...but that's basically all.

[an5200]

you're right about that, just goal-line technology - you can't really monitor off-sides and fouls, it would slow the game down to much.

[osukwm]

I think providing the coaches with limited challenge ability would allow them to address grievous offsides mistakes without slowing down the game too much.

[lilbear925]

I can smell "instant replay" coming to the world of soccer, but don't like how it will go over in other countries. It is inevitable for bad calls/missed calls to be made, but it is inexcusable for so many of them to happen in critical games during the World Cup. There needs to be a "do over" rule for bad ref calls, and the refs should be penalized for their mistakes, just as the teams suffer from the ref's bad calls. Soccer is just hockey without sticks, ice or the blue line, anyway...and the "puck" is much softer.

[voxpopulus]

The England vs Germany call was certainly a bad one. But it changed nothing. England played so appallingly that they could not have won anyway, as even the UK commentators knew.