Berlin [Germany], July 14: FIFA has reiterated that England's equalizer in the World Cup quarter-final against Norway was fair as it insisted the ball had not touched a spidercam cable in the build-up.
Football's ruling body told sportschau.de that spidercam footage "clearly shows that the camera is neither shaking nor moving."
FIFA also dismissed suggestions that the chip in the ball may have lost its signal when it was in the air, saying it had transmitted all the time.
Norway and their coach Stale Solbakken had suggested that the ball hit a cable of the camera construction above the pitch because of its flight pattern following a goal kick by goalkeeper Orjan Nyland. The ball came to England's Anthony Gordon and Jude Bellingham scored en route to England's 2-1 comeback win on Saturday in Miami.
Had the ball touched the cable the goal wouldn't have counted.
"The ball fell straight down from the sky, so it changed its direction," Solbakken said.
FIFA said in a first post-match statement: "The sensor in the Connected Ball showed no peak in the 'heartbeat of the ball' when in the air, and therefore no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball."
Source: Qatar Tribune
