Goal-line technology did its job when it counted at the World Cup, although not without a little bit of confusion. France was the beneficiary of the first World Cup goal awarded thanks to the new system being used in Brazil, which ruled correctly that Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares had narrowly spilled the ball over his own line.
The goal came in the 48th minute, when Karim Benzema’s shot hit the far post and rebounded to Valladares, who fumbled the ball into the goal. The seven video cameras trained on the goal established that the ball had briefly crossed the line by a few inches, alerting the referee on his watch with a flashing “GOAl,” before the ball was pushed out again by Valladares.
The confusion happened when the system showed replays of Benzema’s shot hitting the post with the verdict “NO GOAl” before continuing to show the rest of the sequence and the ball crossing the line.
The change infuriated the Honduras players, some of whom remonstrated with referee Sandro Ricci, while Honduras coach luis Suarez bickered with France coach Didier Deschamps. At the end, they hugged and made up.