1986 World Cup, Mexico City- It was the Quarterfinals of the largest and most watched sporting event in the world. Diego Maradona scored the most controversial goal in the 20th century. English fans around the globe were outraged as they saw Maradona use his hands to score the goal, the ref however did not see this. There was outrage from the English players, which caused a stir on the pitch. After seeing the playback footage it was obvious that Maradona did use his hands to score the “Hand of God” goal. Since then, there have been debates whether or not soccer should follow along with other sports with initiating a referee review system in soccer matches. With the game being around for centuries and with our current professional rules of the sport being established in the 19th century, there have been very little changes in the rules of soccer. So if there has not been replay rules set up since the modern creation of professional soccer why start now?
Some may argue that the use of technology in soccer would not interfere and expand much of the wasted time that comes from the players already having arguments over off-sides, fouls, and waved off goals. However, this is flawed because we would lose organization if a play is reviewed. Soccer can go for minutes with no interruption unlike sports that do have a review system, and if a goal were to be waved off and a play were to continue with a counter attack from the opposing team and they end up scoring or on the other side of the field how would the referee be allowed to review and where would the play continue? England mainly played with an offensive mindset against Germany in the last World Cup. So if England made a debatable foul in the German defense would the referee call for a review, which would keep Germany from restarting the free kick quickly to easily counter attack? The flaw here is determining when a referee can review whether it be for potential goals, corner kicks, or fouls. The idea of installing a reviewing system will just be too complicated to a sport that is meant to be simple.
Soccer is the most viewed and played sport in the entire world. It is part of many countries lifestyles and cultures. The sport has become a very controversial issue in regards to its influence in culture. A Colombian National Team defender for example in the 1994 World Cup was shot and killed in his own country because he let in an own goal that caused the team to not go through into the elimination round. I, having played for 14 years, love the controversy that comes each and every game. After games there are so many debates over what happened and it is all part of the game. It is because of these debates we do have a name for Maradona’s handball goal and if that goal had not occurred, he also might have not scored what is called “the greatest goal of the century” several minutes after the “Hand of God” goal.
FIFA presidents have so far decided to keep from using the replay reviewing system because the debate on how it would it is used without dragging on the game even more than it does. In the end, soccer is just a game that was meant to have debate and argument all around the world. Should FIFA install the system, they would really need to find a way to not destroy the continuous play of the game and remaining organized on how it can be used, which in my opinion is nearly impossible.