Too much at stake – bring in-game replays to World Cup

'If fans can immediately watch the replays, then so must the referees' argues Gary Meenaghan, after seeing a Bosnia-Iran match that could have been so much more with earlier proper officiating.

Edin Dzeko shoots and scores a goal that was called offsides against Nigeria in Bosnia's second group-play game at the 2014 World Cup, a 1-0 loss. Suhaib Salem / Reuters / June 21, 2014

It was said to be the World Cup game that nobody wanted to watch and yet it featured teams who could have – and arguably should have – been fighting each other for a place in the second round.

What chance do the likes of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran have of attracting support when it appears even the gods are against them?

Bosnia defeated Iran 3-1 in what ultimately proved rather watchable fare, yet there could have been a lot more riding on the result had it not been for poor officiating in earlier group-stage matches.

Safet Susic’s Bosnia side lost 1-0 to Nigeria last week, but it would have been different had Edin Dzeko’s strike not been incorrectly ruled out for offside.

Replays showed the Manchester City striker was clearly onside when Miralem Pjanic threaded a ball through for Dzeko to finish. The officials ruled otherwise and Bosnia went on to lose 1-0, ending their qualification hopes.

Iran also controversially lost 1-0 last week. Against Argentina, with the game 0-0 and the World Cup’s sole Middle East representative playing well, Ashkan Dejagah had a strong penalty appeal waved away.

In the 91st minute, Lionel Messi scored the winner to break Iranian hearts and leave them needing to beat Bosnia to have hope of going through.

Carlos Queiroz, the Iranian coach, said he never expected his side to progress through a tough group, but added that the fact they had come so close should be a source of pride. It should also be a source of disappointment. Against Argentina, they deserved at least a point.

“I agreed with the experts and the world, who said it was not realistic to expect Iran to qualify for the second round,” Queiroz said last night. But this is not a game you win or lose with opinions. It’s a game you win with team spirit, focus, belief and other strong characteristics. And we came close.

“The game is not played with ifs, of course, but imagine the penalty against Argentina – that would have put us on four points and even without the Bosnia game, we could have possibly gone through.”

With Fifa introducing goal-line technology (GLT) at this month’s World Cup, it is inevitable that demands will grow for further use of high-tech replays in football. And why not?

It took a blatant goal by Frank Lampard to be wrongly disallowed in 2010 to finally push through GLT. What will it take to see further technology implemented – such as that which can determine whether a player is onside or not?

Every wrong decision changes a tournament, but it is inevitable that eventually one of these wrong decisions will be so blatant that the impact will be unavoidably obvious. Imagine a Neymar goal for Brazil in next month’s World Cup final being ruled out even though replays broadcast in people’s homes show he is clearly onside.

Technology obviously already exists that can rapidly determine such things. Why not implement it? Otherwise, offside calls will remain the sole decision of two men working in real time and with myriad other issues to keep their eyes on (including, yes, biting). In-game video replays, watched by the fourth official on the sidelines, would make a difficult and demanding job a little easier.

Referees are being charged with the responsibility to make game-changing, life-changing, nation-changing decisions. It is naive to think football is still a game that must stay true to its original roots and not be influenced by technology. There is too much at stake nowadays and, courtesy of technology, the errors too obvious. If fans can immediately watch the replays then so must referees.

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