Goal-line technology

After the first half, Sunday evening's Group E opener between Honduras and France wasn't threatening to be a particularly memorable World Cup game. The Hondurans were typically robust - to the point of violent - and the French had to work hard to regain their World Cup groove after the disaster of South Africa 2010.

But then, in the 48th minute, came what Germans like to call the "salt in the soup" - the controversy to give football maniacs something new to talk about.

Karim Benzema got on the end of Yohan Cabaye's cross and side-footed the ball across the face of the goal. The ball struck the far post and careered back along the goal-line, where Noel Valladares inadvertently nudged it. The Honduran goalkeeper clawed the ball back and threw the ball out to start a counter-attack, while Benzema wheeled away in celebration. No TV camera angle seemed able to prove who was right. Most angles suggested, if anything, that the ball hadn't made it all the way over.

The stage was set for the German-made goal-line technology to make its grand entrance. "GoalControl 4D," which had already been tested at the Confederations Cup last year, works like this: seven high-speed cameras - placed around the stadium - are trained on each six-yard area, automatically monitoring the position of the ball as soon as it comes close the goal-line. GoalControl's CEO Dirk Broichhausen claims the system is accurate to within five millimeters.

If the entire ball crosses the line, a device on the referee's wrist receives a signal. If it doesn't, no signal. The idea is that the matter can be settled in seconds - as indeed it was on Sunday when referee Sandro Ricci signaled that France had scored.

More discussion, more suspense

But that didn't stop the skeptics - first among them the Honduran players who screamed in indignation when the computer-simulated animation, playing on the big screens, showed that the initial effort against the post had not crossed the line. There followed a long discussion between the two coaches, who eventually conceded that the goal stood.

In fact, the argument that goal-line technology would kill controversy can now safely be put to bed. Former goalkeeping legend Oliver Kahn, on pundit duty on German TV channel ZDF, wrinkled his Luddite nose, and would only sympathize with the goalkeeper's plight. ZDF's Swiss referee pundit Urs Meier, on the other hand, was full of gratitude, applauding FIFA for taking the initiative and introducing the technology, even when most of the world's national leagues had voted against it.

On Twitter, meanwhile, opinion was initially divided - with many unconvinced that the strange animation proved anything. It was only once photos emerged that appeared to show the ball was indeed where the new-fangled technology suggested it was that the row gave way to acceptance.

Plus there was also the slow realization that the technology had actually added a new element of suspense to the game - more salt for the soup, not less. It was certainly a new spectacle: the whole stadium stopped to watch the computer animation re-enact the fateful moment. Perhaps football fans can get used to it after all.