France on Sunday earned the first goal-line technology goal at a World Cup finals in controversial circumstances.
Karim Benzema’s shot hit a post but bounced across the face of the goal, hitting Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares and heading back towards the goal. Valladares scooped the ball back, but Brazilian referee Sandro Ricci awarded the goal after consulting the goal-line technology system in operation.
It was the first time in international football a goal has been decided by the cameras.
Goal-line technology is being used for the first time at a World Cup finals in an attempt to eradicate the type of unwanted controversies that saw England’s Frank Lampard denied a valid goal against Germany at the last World Cup in South Africa.
The German developed GoalControl system used in Brazil sends an automatic message to the referee’s watch indicating whether or not the ball has crossed the line. There are seven high-speed cameras, each capable of taking 500 pictures a second, trained on each goal in the World Cup games.
Ricci was quick to award the goal before computer generated images of the flight of the ball were shown on the big screen in Porto Alegre.
That brought jeers of derision from many fans inside the stadium as the system initially indicated no goal had been scored when the ball hit the post. It then continued to the moment Valladares hooked the ball out from behind his own line and this time the goal-line technology system came up with a green “goal” message.
Honduras Jorge Luis Suarez was furious and argued with France counterpart Didier Deschamps on the sidelines.
Television replays were inconclusive as no angle afforded a perfect sight of the entire ball being over the line.