Serie A: AC Milan-Juventus Matchup Ruined by Soccer's Ancient Technology

When is soccer finally going to realize that they aren't playing in the 1940s anymore? 

Today's AC Milan vs. Juventus was a fantastic matchup that ended in a 1-1 draw. But the matchup was ruined because of poor officiating and even more-so because of soccer's inability to become technologically sound. 

The first major mistake of the game came in the 25th minute, when it appeared that AC Milan had jumped ahead to a 2-0 lead and a stranglehold on their rivals from a header from Sulley Muntari. The ball had clearly crossed the goal line but was pulled back quickly by Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon. It wasn't ruled a goal and as AC Milan celebrated their non-goal, Juventus players almost managed to score a goal of their own.

But imagine this...Imagine that a referee could go to a booth and review whether or not the play was in fact a goal. Imagine if soccer became as modernized as other sports around the world. 

Look, referees make mistakes. They are human. We, as fans, can't expect them to get everything right. Sure, it was a brutal call but the situation they are in can lead to errors like this from time to time.

What is inexcusable however, is no way to correct those official's mistakes. This is the technological era, where incidents like this could be reviewed in a matter of seconds. Fans at home were aware that Milan had been cheated out of a goal almost instantly. The refs didn't.

And thus, the whole game was tarnished. A 2-0 lead for Milan would have changed the entire game and most likely, its outcome. With a convincing lead, who knows how hard Juventus pushes forward to come back and how much Milan's attacking strategy changes to form a more defensive one. 

The sad thing is, this wasn't even the only major mistake of the game. In the 80th minute, Juventus nets a goal of their own that was disallowed because of an offside call. With a replay shown to fans across the world but not officials, it showed that the striking player, Alessandro Matri, was onside. 

The goal was disallowed and while Juventus would end up scoring only three minutes later, it just further proves the point about how soccer could benefit from official reviews. It's only fair to have teams rewarded for the goals they score and not cheated out of them.

Thankfully, the fans still were rewarded with a high-paced, exciting matchup, regardless of how tarnished the end result was by poor officiating and by a sport living in the past.