Give the officials a break, it's Sepp Blatter who deserves the blame

The argument regarding the use of video technology has seen everyone from David Cameron to James Corden push their opinion into the ring, but Graham Poll, writing in the Daily Mail, says officials want to get it right and goal-line technology would only help.

England fans will blame referee Jorge Larrionda for failing to spot Frank Lampard’s shot had bounced down over the goal-line, but the real villain is Sepp Blatter.

Earlier this year, the FIFA president arrogantly dismissed out of hand the use of goal-line technology and the introduction of the extra two assistants who have been operating in the Europa League this season.

How those decisions came back to haunt him on Sunday.

Officials want to get it right. Their job is to use their training, experience and expertise to call it as they see it. The bottom line is that goal-line technology or additional officials would help referees to get the most important decision — when a goal is scored — correct.

Larrionda will have seen the ball come down off the crossbar in the 39th minute. He will have asked his assistant Mauricio Espinosa: ‘Goal?’ — World Cup referees are able to communicate with their assistants and the fourth official using microphones and ear-pieces, just as officials do in the Premier League.

Espinosa will have either answered: ‘I cannot be sure’ or ‘No goal’. The referee then had no option but to wave play on.

However, the reaction of England’s players will have set alarm bells ringing and he will have been eager to find out at half-time whether he should have awarded a goal. The fourth official and the FIFA representative, by that stage, would have seen replays and told Larrionda that he had made a mistake.

Larrionda looked tentative as he came out for the second half. I’m certain he had learned of his error. The officials will have been mortified to get it wrong. But they called it as they saw it — and that is all they can do.

Espinosa was approximately 16 yards from the dead-ball line, correctly placed to judge on any offside calls. Larrionda was up with play, in line with the centre of goal — exactly where the refereeing manual says he should have been.

He is a top referee; part of an elite, all-Uruguayan team in charge of Sunday’s game. Before this error, he was a candidate for the final, but his credibility with FIFA has now plummeted, no matter what they say publicly.

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