Earlier today, I was working on this post on my mobile phone, had it finished and when I clicked to post, the 3G signal disappeared and somehow the mobile gods thought it'd be funny to make all my futbol prose disappear.  Anyhow, I will try my best to cover everything I had to say. Here we go.

Today we witnessed two epic matches between four well qualified teams.  England faced Germany and the Argentinians suited up in clashing blues against the Mexicans.  The games were both awesome, there is no denying that, but what tainted them, for me at least, was the two horrible calls made by the referees in both games in regards to goals.

In the England game, Frank Lampard scores a sweet goal that bounces off the crossbar and into the goal.  It is clearly two feet or so behind the line, but the referee disallows the goal.  This would've tied the game at 2-2 and it would've been, arguably, a different game.  Sure the Germans played a better overall game, but there's no denying the psychological effect of such a call on a struggling England side.  What ever happened to the striker getting the advantage in those situations? That's game one.

Game two.  Early in the Mexico/Argentina game Mexico played with a lot of confidence and had two great shots on goal that easily could've gone in and would've left the Maradona-faithful seeking a new deity.  However, Messi had other plans and played the ball into Tevez who heads it in, but is CLEARLY offside.  The referee lets the goal stand and the Mexican players swarm the linesman in fury.  After about a minute or so, the referee sends them back to the pitch and the goal stands.  My question is, if it was clearly a goal, why did the referee run over to the linesman after it had already been called a goal?  This was the paradigm shift in the game as it broke the Mexicans' momentum and it was all downhill from that moment forth.

Both calls will undoubtedly lead to the resurgence of the issue of goal line technology in futbol games.  If you remember correctly the issue was widely discussed after Thierry Henry's handball against Ireland that sent France to South Africa and the Irish back home.

Futbol is a modern game in a modern era and it is the biggest in the world.  Almost every other sport has some form of technology in place to aid officials in making the right calls during matches.  Why not futbol? ESPN as well as other broadcasting stations have cameras on the goal net for crying out loud, why can't FIFA? If you think about the dynamic of a futbol match where we see 1 or 2 goals on average/game, getting a call wrong in regards to a goal is a big deal.

I brought up the question to a smart guy I know and he is against goal line technology.  He says that it slows down the pace of the game and it is anti-futbol in the sense that it leaves us nothing to talk about after the game.  Goal line technology makes futbol a game of absolutes with no ambiguity and room for debate.  I see his point, but I disagree.  Billions of dollars/pounds/Euros/Yen/Pesos are invested in futbol and aside from the monetary aspect of it, we as fans want to see a fair game.  That's what goal line technology does; it makes the game fair.  Now, the issue becomes, if implemented, to what extent is the technology used?  My friend brought up a scenario that what if a foul is committed on the center of the pitch and everyone stops, but the referee lets the play go on and a goal is scored from that, will goal line technology review the foul and thus disallow the goal?  I think goal line technology should be used only in instances like we saw today.  Instances where the ball is over the line, but the referee isn't sure; instances where a player in the box is offside, or could be offside.  These moments won't slow down the game in my opinion.  I'm for goal line technology.  Horrible calls like we saw today taint the game for me and it is a shame that FIFA, or rather, Sepp Blatter, does not favor technology in futbol.  What are your thoughts on goal line technology? Are you for it? Are you against it? I'd love to hear what you think in the comments!! Thanks for reading and as always you can follow us on Twitter: @LiveBrtheFutbol

The Games continue in the a.m. !! Viva Futbol.

As futbol-ers we have all been there.  You know, the day where you spend the early hours of your Saturday watching the Premiere League games and then you get all excited for your league game or just pick up with some of your friends. Well, today was one of those days, and even though Arsenal's 90th minute draw with Birmingham put a huge damper on my day I was excited to play because the week was very stressful at school.

A few touches into the game I was feeling great, my team was moving the ball extremely well and the night looked great...and then the unthinkable happened.  A defender on my team gives me a nice cross and I jump to chest it into space, then I land on this kid's sneaker and roll my ankle! Ouch! What sucked is that this wasn't one of those walk it off sprained ankles; I couldn't put any weight on it and there was no ice in sight!

The worst part is just sitting there watching your friends have fun playing the beautiful game while you sit there on the sideline with an injury...After about a half hour of sitting I decided, as we all have at some point, to foolishly get back into the game...I twisted it again and I was done for good.  I tried playing yet again, but it was hopeless.  I was hopping around the pitch like an injured chicken. I couldn't turn, dribble or run at defenders like I usually do.  I just thought I would share my story with you all as I sit here with an ice pack around my ankle hoping that tomorrow it will somehow be healed because I have a game that I cannot miss.  Until next time, LIVE, BREATHE, FUTBOL!