Disbelief for Lampard but FIFA have no plan for video evidence

FRANK LAMPARD has called for the advent of goal-line technology after being denied a crucial equaliser as England crashed out of the World Cup to Germany.

England were trailing 2-1 when Lampard's 20-yard strike hit the underside of the bar and bounced down around a yard over the goal-line.

But the match officials allowed play to continue and Germany eventually went on to win 4-1 – a scoreline Lampard believes flattered them.

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The Chelsea midfielder said: "I haven't seen the goal again but I didn't need to see it again.

"I knew straight away that my shot was over the line, clearly a yard or so. It baffles me that it wasn't given and it was a big deciding factor.

"I won't stand here and say it is the reason why we got knocked out. But if it had gone to 2-2, and we had still come out and played the way we did in the second half, it would have been a different game."

Lampard said: "I think it is time to bring in goal-line technology.

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"We had a meeting before the World Cup when we were told about a million different rule changes that hardly affect the game.

"The big one, the one that affects the game today, hasn't been brought in so it is a no-brainer."

Lampard believes there were only small margins that separated the two sides.

He said: "Everyone can see it was a goal which would have sent us in level at half-time and after the break we were on top and hit the bar again.

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"Maybe we showed a bit of desperation and a little bit of naivety on our part in trying to push and push and getting caught on sucker punches on counter-attacks.

"It is the story of the game. Nobody can stand here and tell me Germany were a lot better than us. They were not 4-1 better than us."

FIFA, however, will reject calls for goal-line technology to be introduced.

FIFA refused to comment last night but on Saturday, secretary general Jerome Valcke said: "We didn't say you could have a zero-fault system in the World Cup.

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"Additional assistants (behind each goal-line) could happen in 2014 to make sure these kind of things are not happening in refereeing.

"It doesn't mean the use of video, that is definitely not on the table today, but one thing we are discussing is two additional assistants to support referees."