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Sorry Germany: the ball stayed in during Spain vs Japan, rightly sending Die Mannschaft out of the group stage for the second tournament in a row. We’ve had it explained to us, now.
One Twitter user, Nick Levett (opens in new tab), has demonstrated how – and though it’s not conclusive, it certainly does prove that looking at the ball from specific angles can actually alter your perception of whether a sphere is overhanging a line. The whole of the ball, remember.
We do feel a little bit like Dougal in Father Ted being explained to about how cows far away are smaller than cows in the foreground. But no matter: every day’s a school day, especially during the World Cup. And we’re not too proud to learn.
Perception and angle are everything!!! pic.twitter.com/mzF7YXnQiXDecember 1, 2022
Japan’s controversial second goal came quickly after their equaliser, with Brighton & Hove Albion star Kaoru Mitoma racing to the byline to get to the ball and whip in a cross for a team-mate. Spain thought the ball had gone out. ITV’s commentary team of Clive Tyldesley and Ally McCoist thought it was, too. VAR disagreed.
The video footage wasn’t entirely clear, either. Graeme Souness raged at FIFA at full-time to “show us the pictures”, with Germany succumbing to a “was it over the line?” debate yet again, flashbacks of 1966 replaying in front of their eyes.
As Levett as shown though, there was one angle that looked like the whole of the ball was well over the touchline – but actually, that could be misleading. Just watch the Twitter video if you don’t believe us, Germans…
