Germany and Argentina Advance Thanks to Some Help

Germany and England played their Round of 16 game today with some more controversy. After a couple of legitimate German goals and a goal by the English to make it 2-1, Frank Lampard of England shoots the ball going off the top cross bar and then landing on the ground behind the goal line. The ball would then bounce out the goal area which led to the refs not calling it a goal even though it clearly was. This bad call would've tied the game and may have changed the momentum of it. Instead it doesn't count and Thomas Muller scores two more goals for Germany to get the victory, 4-1.

More officiating controversy would haunt the second game as well. The first goal scored by Argentina was scored by Carlos Tevez who made the shot thanks to a feed by Lionel Messi. However, reply shows that when Tevez was passed the ball for the goal, he was clearly offsides. The officials, however, did not make the call. Argentina would go on to win, 3-1, thanks to Tevez's two goals and one by Gonzalo Higuan. Argentina will go on to face Germany in the Quarter Finals.

Another day of bad officiating adds more evidence to further the case of allowing Instant Replay in Football. It is with these mistakes where teams starts to lose confidence and the whole game can be turned. Would Argentina still have won if Tevez didn't score the first goal? Could Germany still win if England had tied the game? We will never know. Momentum is everything in sports and one bad call can influence the entire match. England and Mexico now feel Ireland's pains and might change their attitude about Instant Replay in the near future (not that either country has been for or against it, that I know of).

P.S. Germany and Argentina still looked like the favorites and the better teams but they still have to earn the win. We can't assume anything in sports. That's why the games are played. But the players should make the mistakes, not the officials.