You can blame Thierry Henry. If his blatant double hand ball in France’s World Cup berth-clinching win over Ireland stands, he’ll go down in history as heir to Diego Maradona and the Hand of God in the 1986 World Cup.
You can blame referee Martin Hansson, whose blown call at Stade de France was his second goal-line botch this year — he missed a Brazil goal against the U.S. in the Confederations Cup final in June.
But the culprit is FIFA, whose refusal to adopt modern technology and improve officiating is a stain that has soaked through the entire sport, and replaying the match should be simply the first step.
Only by adding video replay, at the very least on goals, and ending the use of a single center referee — no self-respecting team sport in the world is officiated by one person (the NBA can’t get it right with three) — can soccer rise above the regular suspicions that purists think are endearing but in reality are embarrassing.
