WARSAW (AFP)
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter said on Wednesday that the introduction of
goal-line technology is a must after Ukraine appeared to equalise
against England in their final Euro 2012 group match but the
referee waved play on.
"After last night's match #GLT is no longer an alternative but a
necessity," the president of football's world governing body Sepp
Blatter wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
Blatter has frequently stated his position in favour of
technology to determine disputed decisions, setting him at odds
with his counterpart at European football's governing body UEFA,
Michel Platini.
Platini this week told reporters in Warsaw that the five
officials currently being used in Euro 2012, including two on the
goal-line, would prevent any repeat of controversial incidents.
He again said that technology was a slippery slope towards its
use for every decision, including off-side and handball.
But the five officials at co-hosts Ukraine's final group D match
with England in Kiev on Tuesday were under scrutiny after Marko
Devic forced a save from Joe Hart in the 62nd minute and John
Terry cleared off the line.
Television replays suggested that the ball had crossed the line
for a goal but Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai waved play on.
"The result of the match turned on a gross error by the officials
who didn't give the Ukrainian goal," Ukraine's Sport-Express
newspaper said on its website on Wednesday.
"And it all happened with five officials, two of whom were in
charge of seeing whether a ball crosses the line."
It had not been the case the previous evening when Italian
striker Antonio Cassano benefited from a sharp-eyed fifth
official who correctly called that his header had crossed the
line in the 2-0 win against Ireland.
FIFA is currently trialling two prototypes of goal-line
technology, one from British firm HawkEye, which uses a series of
cameras in stadium roofs to track the trajectory of the ball and
another from German firm GoalRef, which uses sensors.
Both have been tested in match conditions in recent months, with
monitors observing the performance of HawkEye during England's
pre-Euro 2012 warm-up game against Belgium at Wembley stadium.
