Let the players, not the referees decide!!!

It’s unfortunate I have to start this post with a gripe. There has been some great footballing on show at CAN 2010 since my last article, with several surprises such as the qualification of Ghana’s youthful side into the semi-finals and Algeria’s elimination of the much fancied Elephants. Cote d’Ivoire vs Algeria was probably the best match to date and it’s such a shame that it had to be decided by a blatant refereeing error. There lies my gripe: the appalling standard of refereeing at this tournament AND FIFA’s obstinate stance against the introduction of goal line technology.

There’s been much debate on this topic. I’ll try to address some of the arguments against technology. One is that football is a human game, referees are human and so are errors. This argument from nature is a sentimental one and nothing more. Sure, things in their natural, unperturbed forms are beautiful. Natural forms however tend to be wild and unproductive. This is exactly what some of the recent decisions in the game have been: wild and unproductive. I believe that at some time in life people said that not being able to fly is a human limitation that we had to accept. Today, most people enjoy the benefits of flying. In sports, there were times that judges had to make a call on which horse crossed the line first in horse racing. I’m sure it was exciting then. Video technology is now used to determine winners and I don’t believe it has made that sport less exciting. If anything, it has made it fairer while retaining the excitement.

Perhaps the strongest argument is that technology will disrupt the flow of the game. I disagree with this POV too. I don’t believe technology will create anymore disruptions than we already have. Anyone who watched the Egypt-Cameroun game saw how many minutes were wasted on the Lions’ protests after that ghost goal by Ahmed Hassan. Those of us watching on tv had meanwhile seen what the correct decision should have been within seconds of the incident. In this era of powerful, instant replays, I can’t buy the “flow disruption” argument. Maybe fellow footie fans and administrators like Sepp Blatter need to watch other sports more. I was at the 2009 US Open (tennis) and it did not take me long to acknowledge the benefits of video replays in that game. The balls are hit so hard and fast it's impossible for line judges to be exact. Technologies such as the “Hawkeye” are therefore helping umpires make calls that their human minds could not have been able to make correctly. If you ask me, I’ll tell you that is progress.

The lamest argument by far remains the one which assumes that wrong calls even themselves out. They don’t and there are so many instances to cite from. England didn't get a chance to avenge Diego Maradona’s "Hand of God", Cameroun won the 2000 CAN over Nigeria because of a wrong call and the Eagles haven’t lifted the trophy since, Pedro Mendes will probably never get to score a winner against Man Utd in his life, Chelsea are yet to have redemption for Luis Garcia’s [no] goal. The list is endless. Unfortunately not all things come round together once they are gone. One is a pack of feathers, another is reputation. The third I can think of is a critical call in a crucial match.

The one point I seemed to agree with Seppe Blatter and his bureaucrats at FIFA on is that technology may be too expensive at first to be implemented throughout the game. His fear is that those at the grassroots will be denied an important aspect of the game that they will have to deal with when they hit big time. Upon further thought, I do not even side with this point any longer. I have news for FIFA: there has never been an equal distribution of resources for the development of the game across the world. I remember when in Ghana we would kick anything that bore a globular semblance around. We would even cut polythene bags into pieces, stuff them into a bigger one and tie it all round so we could get something to play with. That was our football. I’m sure kids growing up in England, Italy and elsewhere had their Umbro and Lotto balls to play with. This discrepancy in initial resource did not prevent us from spanking them really hard in professional contests.

I’m all for the introduction of video technology in football. It’s long overdue. The greatest danger is letting it dominate the game at the exclusion of its soul. I however believe we can manage this danger and not only make football richer, but also fairer. Gripe over!!!

On a more serious note, the semi finals of the CAN are going to be two cracking affairs. There are four permutations for the final and each outcome is equally likely. I’m however going to stick my neck out and make some bold predictions:

Egypt 1 -1 Algeria AET. Egypt wins 7-6 on penalties

Ghana 1-0 Nigeria

I think we are looking at Egypt extending their amazing CAN run to three successive trophies, I’m afraid!