In the build-up to the ongoing World Cup in Qatar, there were countless talking points, and the topics for debate spread far and wide, from who will prevail in the 32-nation tournament to Human Rights records in the host country. Each of those specific debates will continue, particularly the latter in the long term. Still, the competition in the Middle East has brought about some technological advances that could stand the test of time and others that may not.
As highlighted by CyberGhost's report, football was a different sport before modifications began to be introduced in more recent years. There was far more focus on the referee's interpretation of an incident in real-time, creating far more "what if" moments and leaving nations aggrieved by decisions that prevented them from making further progress in a tournament which has involved four years of preparation. The assistant's failure to spot Frank Lampard's long-range effort going over the line for England against Germany in 2010 is a famous example, the Three Lions missing out on leveling the last-16 contest at 2-2 before losing 4-1, yet far more examples exist.
Back in 2002, Italy had Francesco Totti controversially handed a second yellow card for simulation and Damiano Tommasi having a seemingly-legitimate golden goal disallowed versus South Korea before losing to a 117th-minute winner, while a lack of VAR in 2014 led to hosts Brazil mistakenly being given a game-changing penalty in their group-stage opener versus Croatia. Nevertheless, despite the controversy surrounding this tournament, different uses of technology have been implemented, albeit with varying success.
Arguably the most important introduction has been the use of FREECOOL Technology. Even though the tournament was moved away from the traditional summer slot on the calendar to the winter, temperatures in Qatar have still been far above the average that many of the players and supporters are accustomed to, and it resulted in all but one of the eight stadiums possessing a cooling system. Rather than matches being played in temperatures around the 30C-mark, the low-energy environmentally-friendly procedure brought that down to 24C and lower.
Stadium 974 was the only ground not to feature such technology, and it was no coincidence that their seven designated fixtures were all staged at 7pm or 10pm local time. The decision not to use it was based on its location next to West Bay, the stadium benefitting from a natural breeze from the water in the Persian Gulf.
The use of goal-line technology is not necessarily a new invention, such as the times nowadays. Yet, it had an important use during the group-stage fixture between Japan and Spain. To the naked eye, and the majority of fans watching worldwide, a cutback from the by-line appeared to be done with the ball out of play. Had that goal which followed a second later, been disallowed, even the most passionate of Japanese supporters would not have disputed it. Yet, the goal being awarded led to one of the most prolonged talking points of the tournament thus far.
FIFA's lack of clarity did not help the situation. It was not until the following day that the governing body released virtual-reality images which showed that a small fraction of the ball had still been in play, the pictures in question being provided by the goal-line cameras and relaid to VAR officials at the time. FIFA acknowledged that some images were "misleading," justifying the debate. Yet, the use of technology proved to be the difference in Japan rightfully progressing to the last 16 and Germany bowing out.
The introduction of semi-automated offside has certainly helped the speed at which such calls are made. It was initially put through a trial period at the Club World Cup in February before giving the go-ahead for this tournament, but although it can be deemed a success, the transition has not been seamless. There was a confusing incident during the fixture between Croatia and Belgium when the referee was asked to go to the monitor to assess a potential offside, something which should have been taken out of his hands. At the time, Croatia had been lined up to take a penalty, but the official in question was instead requested to assess the virtual lines pitchside.
Regardless of whether the right decision was reached or not, it did little to support the use of technological interventions, strengthening the general consensus that much work is ahead to complete the transition of moving technology into football and sport in general.
