Frank Lampard’s ‘ghost goal’ against Germany in the 2010 FIFA World Cup was probably the incident that inspired the goal-line technology that we have t﷽oday.
Trailing 1-2 with 37 minutes into the match, England midfielder Lampard found Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer off his line and went for a long ranger, which hit the underside of the crossbar. The English players, including Lampard, unsuccessfully pleaded th🍒eir case with referee Jorge Larrionda.
The tonality of the commentators, which was until now🐈 unruffled, found a few high bars, with Guy Mowbray heard saying, “It’s surely crossed the line! Jorge Larrionda has made a huge call.”
It was!
The replays showed the ball going over the line b🌺y two♚ or three feet.
The decision was met by jeers from the crowd.
To add salt to the woun♛d, Germany scored t♔wo more goals, with the English players still reeling from the disallowed goal.
Sepp Blatter, the Fifa 🦄president at the time, was forced to apologise to England for the referee’s error.
The use of goal-line technology was a h𓆏uge debate in the years that followed. By 2012, the need for it was realised and the technology took centre stage in the subsequent Club World Cup.
The 2013-14 Premier Lea💜gue season saw VAR being used for the first time and it becameꦅ an integral part of the 2014 World Cup, too.
Years later, reminiscing about the goal bei🌌ng not awarded to England and the implementation of VAR, Lampard said, “It changed the game for the better”.
