RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Was it a goal, or wasn't it?
The question shouldn't need to be debated in the next five weeks in Brazil, where goal-line technology will be used for the first time in a World Cup.
Fourteen cameras — seven trained on each goalmouth — have been hung up in all 12 World Cup stadiums. The cameras will record 500 images per seconds, and a computer will digest the frames. Within a second of a ball crossing the line, the referee's special watch will vibrate and flash "GOAL."
End of the debate? It should be. The designer of the system says 2,400 tests have been run in Brazil, without a mistake. The only question is the cost. FIFA says it's confidential.
Adds Dirk Broichhausen, head of the company GoalControl: "Sorry, nothing about costs. But this is the future."
