Craven Cottage Newsround

A few links on this Sunday.

I’m betting that Daniel Cousin wishes that FIFA had made a different decision and allowed him to play for Fulham. The 31 year old Rangers striker broke his jaw in the UEFA game on Thursday v Werder Bremen. Cousin had scored a couple of goals recently as he seemed to be working his way back into Walter Smith’s side. Cousin said, “This is the worst possible thing that could happen after breaking back into the team.”

The Hawkeye technology that the FA had been testing and hoping to use next season has been voted down by the IFAB. The IFAB is a group consisting of four home associations who each have a vote and four FIFA representatives who also have a vote. According to the Soccernet article, FIFA and the Football Association of Wales all voted down the goal-line technology.

Instead, they are siding with UEFA president Michel Plantini’s idea of experimenting with having two extra goal-line referees behind each goal. The FA is concerned about how they are going to recruit extra referees that are competent and the extra cost of those referees. They’re also very disappointed after spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on testing the equipment which utilizes 12 cameras linked to a computer that gives an accurate 3d photo of the ball. It’s also stated in the article that Hawkeye Technology company’s costs have run into the millions of pounds.

I personally think it was time for a change and to upgrade to technology. Fulham were a victim of human error in regards to balls crossing over goal-lines this season and could have certainly been 3 to 6 points a head of our current place in the standings if correct calls had been made. I also don’t understand how two referees standing behind the goal are going to be able to tell on a 192 sq. ft of goal, if the ball went in or out. Of course this is used in hockey but were talking 24 sq. ft. A big difference.

An excellent article on Eddie Johnson written by Steve Davis of Soccernet. Davis looks at what GAM must do if he is to succeed in the Premier League. I think Davis gives a fair assessment of Eddie’s strengths and weaknesses. He also gets some quotes from EJ and an assessment of a reserve team game that EJ played in and Davis attended. Good stuff and he’s very accurate in his assessment in my opinion.

Lastly, I’ve been trying to follow Steve Marlet’s trial with the Chicago Fire. Last I reported, he had left with the team from Florida spring training to fly to Mexico where the team played friendly’s with a number of Mexican teams. Marlet featured in one of those games and shortly after the Fire released their roster. Marlet was not on it. However, I’ve done a fair amount of searching around and cannot find anything that says the Fire released him and if they did where he went. If there’s any Fire fans out there with more information let us know.

Another Times bit up.  Read it here.