Over the past several weeks, 64 soccer teams have fought to reach the pinnacle of world football (soccer), and now it’s down to the final two. Argentina will face Germany for the World Cup 2014 title Sunday. Here’s a quick look at some new and memorable technologies that have made the World Cup one of the best ever.
Largest Twitter Explosion for a Sporting Event Ever
When Germany was in the process of “defeating” (insert your own adjective here) Brazil for a chance to reach the finals of the 2014 World Cup, Twitter exploded with 35.5 million tweets, making it the most Tweeted sporting event ever. On a tweets-per-minute basis, the goal by Germany’s Sami Khedira, broke the record for most tweets per minute.
New Aerodynamic Soccer Balls Lead to Higher Scoring Games
Soccer balls have been redesigned for every World Cup tournament since 1970 (see image). This year’s ball, the Brazuca, was talked about early in the tournament as the best ball ever as more goals were scored than in any other World Cup. Still waiting for the final stats but new aerodynamics will allow players to “place” their shots more accurately, resulting in higher scoring games in the future.
Vanishing Spray On Free Kicks
No more subversive moves that make a 10 yard penalty distance into 7 or 8 yards and fewer incidents of below the belt hits that can debilitate a player for minutes or longer.
The solution could easily have been shaving cream, but whatever it was, it worked! The German company who manufactures the magic foam, GoalControl, has been supplying it to major league football (soccer) worldwide since 2013.
Shin Guard Technology
A new company from Providence, Rhode Island, G-Form, has teamed with Pele to promote a new type of shin guard technology that protects players from impact. Instead of the older “hard shell” shin guards that have been used for decades, this new shin guard spreads the force, reducing shock to players legs. Many of this year’s players wore these shin guards.
New Goal Line Technology
Goal line technology has been used for the first time ever at the 2014 World Cup when in a game between France and Honduras, there was a question as to whether France’s Karim Benzema had scored a goal or not.
Benzema’s shot hit the goal post and ran along the goal line where eventually the Honduras goalie fell on the ball. Normally, this would’ve been a judgement call by the referee, but in this case, a “buzz” on the wristwatch of referee Sandro Ricci told him that the ball had, in fact, gone over the line and the goal was counted.
