German Juggernaut … but …

TGIF, Fort, Manila

Germany 4, England 1

Germany was younger, faster and fitter.  They simply overwhelmed the English with their pace. While I believe Lampard goal or not, English would have lost anyways; however, that decision was a major determinant to the direction the game went after that.

English had caught on to the pace of the germans pretty well after their first goal and the 2nd one in from Lampard would have brought them back to level. 2nd half would have started as a brand new game with English wiser of German superiority but at the same time confident, happy and more than anything else relieved that they pulled themselves back to normal. They would have played carefully, defending tightly and not letting germans beat them in sheer pace. Since they were chasing a goal in 2nd half, they did not get the opportunity to slow down the game. They had to attack and thus had to leave gaps at the back. Germans were a better team irrespective of that decision. Eventually, they would have beaten the English, maybe by just one tight goal but with that disallowed goal the 2nd half turned into plain humiliation for English.

Football just like many other sports is not just about numbers. One might say, oh it was just a goal and germans scored 2 more later anyways. A lot depends on how the players feel and what goes on in their heads. Competing when you are a goal down vs when you are at level is a totally different ball game.

Having said all that and aware of the other boo-boo in the Argentine – Mexican game (that game could have also been played differently but still Argentina would have won), I am still not in favor of using technology to assist the referees. I have two main reasons to resist the change …

1. A lot of views have been expressed in favor of using technology by giving an argument that almost all other sports have started using it. My response is “exactly”. This is the biggest reason football should not do it as well. This is what separates football from the rest. This is the reason football is beautiful and more importantly in this context a purely “human” sport. so this leads me to my 2nd reason for resisting the use of technology …

2. Players don’t have technology to assist them in playing. They make mistakes. Refrees are as much a part of the game as players are. Imagine someone suggesting tiny headphones by players to give them directions real-time remotely on where to pass the ball or what to do! Isn’t that stupid. So is referee using technology to give the decision. One might as well play a video game instead. You’ll never go wrong in that one. Imagine a game in which there are no wrong passes, no self goals, no fouls, no surprises and everything goes as per the plan. It is just as uninteresting as it is accurate. Life is not perfect and so is Football. Let the game be human from all aspects and it will remain beautiful just the way it is today.