CFR Cluj vs FC København: Proof That Extra Assistant Referees are Pointless?

By: Daryl | September 18th, 2009

While discussing the debatable usefulness and potential loneliness of the Europa League’s extra assistant referees yesterday, we got a great tip-off from Vlad in the comments.

Go to just after 6:45 in the above YouTube highlights of CFR Cluj 2-0 FC København in Europa League Group L (yep, there are 12 gruops) yesterday, and you’ll see a shot from Cluj’s Ciprian Deac that appears to hit the underside of the bar and bounce over the line. Except – even with UEFA’s new goal-line referees – it wasn’t given.

If it did cross the line (and it’s hard to tell with 100% accuracy from YouTube footage, but I’m leaning towards yes) then this is the first (inevitable) evidence that having an extra goal-line referee is more or less useless when it comes to these “did it cross the line or not?” decisions.

Luckily for UEFA, CFR Cluj were already 2-0 up at the time, so it wasn’t a gamechanger. But it’s definitely worth noting how UEFA airbrushed the incident in its match report:

…there was still time for Deac to ping a shot against the crossbar for CFR before the whistle gave them a well-earned rest.

Hmm. That’s not really telling the full story is it UEFA?

But let’s save the goal-line technology debate for another day, and turn instead to something less controversial that we can all enjoy (except FC København fans0. Check out CFR Cluj’s second goal, around the 5:20 mark in the video, as Ivorian Lacina Traoré bursts past two København defenders before finding the near corner with his left foot.

Some Related Stories:

Category: World Football

« How Much is Leo Messi Earning at Barcelona? | Home | Daily Dose: September 18th, 2009 »

The Offside RSS Feeds

Juliet

Sure looks like the entire ball hit behind the line to me. A microchip in the ball would be a big help.
Luka

Damn, I was just about to write a blog about this! Beat me to it. Props to vlad for finding it.
sscouser

After creating a gif video clip I am positive that the ball crossed the line (go to 7:06)

Revealing that goal-line technology would be ready for introduction at the Club World Championship in Tokyo in December 2007 following further experimentation, Blatter added: "I am only talking about goal-line technology here. We have to help referees and have correct control but we must never stop the match with videos or monitors to look at what has happened."

Then, Blatter prefered either a ball with a microchip inside it or a behind-the-goal camera linked to a computer...

Mr Blatter, we are still waiting.
Dustin

The Whole of the ball has to be over the line, I'm not positive in anyway but I really don't think it's conclusive that the referee messed that one up.

Also I really don't think one game would ever decide if these refs aren't useful. If we had a game with no offside calls would we say just get rid of those refs too?
vlad

That second goal was a golazo! he was a subsitute to a better forward-Yousuf Kone who had gone of injured late in the first half. he is only 19 years old and he had already scored 2 goals in the romanian league similar to this one. Forza Romania!