Why did goal-line technology let us down? Hint: It didn't
Controversy!
France's second goal was not scored on French forward Karim Benzema's casual strike in the 49th minute, according to goal-line technology.
It was, however, scored when Honduras 'keeper Noel Valladares knocked the rebound from his strike into his own net.
It doesn't seem that difficult to grasp, but the play, as seen below, caused commentators and fans around the world to question the technology being used to decide if the ball crosses the line at the World Cup.
[Courtesy of ABC]
A case can be made for suggesting that the ball was within the technology's margin of error:
The GoalControl goal-line tech system margin of error is +/-1.5cm - could the France goal have been inside that? pic.twitter.com/Nd1jnBViHw
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) June 15, 2014
However, disagreeing with the system in place is essentially saying, "Never mind the 14 high-speed cameras, capturing three-dimensional images and tracking the three-dimensional position of the ball down to a few millimeters, I don't think it was a goal, because MY EYES!"
People's eyes end up not really being the best judges of location because they have a nasty predilection toward relying too heavily on perspective.
As evidenced below:
