Technology

Teenagers and grown adults celebrated a triumphant moment of growing independence yesterday as they learned they’d no longer need their parents’ cable television login credentials to watch the UEFA Champions League online. A monumental deal between Facebook Inc. and Fox Sports will see the page livestream two matches on Tuesday and two on Wednesday throughout the group stage, four matches from the round of 16 and four quarterfinal games during the 2017-18 tournament.

Chile were the better side from the kick-off today in Moscow as Cameroon quickly found themselves setting up camp in their own half. Chile were eventually rewarded with a 2-0 victory, but not without the Video Assistant Referee system playing a role.

Today, May 18, 2017 — a date which will live in history — the Football Association voted, in unison, to introduce retrospective two-match bans for players found guilty of diving or feigning injury, an offense which heretofore was a shameful stain upon our beloved game.

Sunday’s match between Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven was a meeting of first and third in the Dutch Eredivisie table. With the scores level at 1-1 in the 82nd minute, the big winner would be second place Ajax. But Feyenoord's Jan-Arie van der Heijden was credited with a winner in one of the most important and ridiculous demonstrations of goal-line technology.

Real Madrid’s mini-crisis heading into the weekend was completely reversed in a matter of hours. First, Barcelona travelled to Sevilla to play Real Betis. In a match that Barca were heavy favorites in, they found themselves trailing 1-0 in the 79th minute. 

Then, after Neymar had been dragged down in the box with no foul given, a Betis defender sent the ball into his own goal. It clearly crossed the line, but a desperate clearance from inside the net was adjudged to have prevented the goal by the referee.

The growing concern over artificial turf fields and their possible connection with cancer has led to more significant research, including a recent study by the Washington State Department of Health and researchers at the University of Washington, but their findings have concluded that the field surface is not linked to an increased rate of cancer.

The conversation about technology in soccer reached a fever pitch following FIFA’s use of Video Assistant Referees at the Club World Cup. Video replay technology has long been an area of fierce debate, but it’s finally beginning to make headway after the unmitigated success of goal-line technology.

FIFA’s Video Assistant Referee system debuted at the FIFA Club World Cup to mixed reviews, but that hasn’t stopped Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho from issuing a strong plea to move forward with the technology.

Speaking with FIFA.com ahead of The Best FIFA Football Awards, Mourinho was asked for his view on the system.

Football has long been obstinate in its opposition to video technology, going so far as to appoint fifth and sixth officials to stand behind the goals doing absolutely nothing as opposed to implementing any kind of instant replay system. 

Goal-line technology has, in recent times, been successfully used at the highest levels of the game, but this only came about because of legitimate instances of robbery at the pinnacle of the sport.