Frank Lampard's Shot Crosses Goal Line

If only there was VAR back then. Yep, the ball was clearly in. Sadly for England, FIFA has yet to put in place anything to detect if the ball goes over the line. How difficult would it be to put a computer chip in the ball? Or how hard would it be to introduce video replays? Obviously, the British press is up in arms about the disallowed goal.

Lampard’s little chip shot bounces down off the cross bar and over the line by good three or four feet. A genius shot really. Clearly to everyone watching Lampard’s shot was in, but not to the linesman or the referee. The goal would have tied the game, and changed everything. Given England a chance and the momentum.

English midfielder Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal in their 4-1 loss against Germany in the Last 16 of the World Cup 2010 when he hit the crossbar and clearly went over the line. The Uruguayan referee and linesman failed to see anything and the game continue a minute after Matthew Upson scored a header to give a 2-1 scoreline. In the end, Germany won 4-1 England and go through to the quarter-final at the Free State Stadium.

However, for me, what stands out in the game is the fact that the big name players for England didn’t show up, Gerrard and Lampard I thought played fairly well, but Wayne Rooney again did nothing spectacular. Germany on the other hand was brilliant, clever with their passing and went right at the English players.

Actually, someone who deserves a lot of credit is the German keeper, Manuel Neuer. Who, although he got beat on the chip shot, didn’t waste anytime in getting the ball out of the goal and back into play. If he hesitated, the referee might have looked closer at the play or looked to his linesman for an answer. But Neuer got the soccer ball out of the goal quickly, a credit to him.

Fabio Capello had this to say about the goal:

“It was one of the most important things in the game,” said the Italian tactician, who admitted his side had to take a share of the blame for being carved open on regular intervals.

“The goal was very important. We could have played a different style.

“We played I think well at 2-1, but after the third goal it was a little bit disappointing.

“We played well. Germany is a big team. They played a good game. We made some mistakes when they played the counter-attack. The referee made bigger mistakes.

“Little things decide the result always.”