‘To score or not to score, that is the question’. Thomas Mueller has been credited with the 2014 World Cup’s first hat-trick but is this correct?
Real Madrid and France striker Karim Benzema has a genuine claim to be the tournament’s first hat-trick scorer.
Against Honduras, in a sensational performance, Benzema scored a penalty, slammed in a shot from within the 18 yard box and was then involved in the World Cup’s first goal-line technology incident.
Let’s quickly recap for any of those who may have missed it.
A sweeping passing movement by the French team lead to a side-footed strike from Benzema that hit both posts before crossing the line despite a valiant attempt from the Honduran keeper to save it. The referee, responding to the signal on his smart watch, ruled that a goal had been scored.
The goal-line technology was displayed on the big screens for the enlightenment of the packed stadium. As the whole path of the ball was shown, the initial contact with the upright registered as a “No goal”.
The crowd, displaying the comprehension of a Town Hall meeting in an episode of the Simpsons, jeered the decision. The referee must have done a double take wondering why his 11-year-old son chose that particular moment to prank call him.
Almost forgotten among the drama of the incident was the awarding of the goal as an own goal against the goalkeeper. Did I see this correctly? Was I having my own Midsummer Night’s Dream? The fact that Benzema scored two other goals meant that this incident effectively robbed him of a hat-trick.
Hat-tricks are a rare thing for a professional footballer. World Cup hat-tricks are rarer still.
“A goal! a goal! My kingdom for a goal!” was what they said in Elizabethan times. Unfortunately, Benzema remains a prince, perhaps never being able to tell his grandkids about his World Cup hat-trick.
Did the Honduran goalkeeper suddenly take it upon himself to test the new goal-line technology? No, he was doing his best to keep the ball out. It was Benzema’s strike that scored the goal, pure and simple. He should not have to suffer the slings and arrows of an outrageous FIFA committee ruling.
Let’s compare it to some of the other own goals that have been awarded.
Take Marcelo’s against Croatia. A cross went into the area waiting for someone to divert it into the goal and it was poor Marcelo’s foot that provided the diversion. If he had missed, the ball would have passed harmlessly by.
Similarly, the own goal against Bosnia and Herzegovina was from a free kick that would have reached the corner flag if not for the knobbly knee of Sead Kolasinac. Both were accidental errors from defenders against balls going nowhere near the goal.
Own goals should only be awarded against a goalkeeper in exceptional circumstances. A bad punch from a cross or a miscued pass to a defender. But there is no way a goalkeeper saving a shot on goal should suffer the indignity of conceding an own goal.
Who will collect the award if this is voted goal of the tournament? Noel Valladares, the Honduras goalkeeper? Give me a break.
Is this much ado about nothing? No, hat-trick heroes have an important place in the game.
Think of all those aspiring French youngsters wishing they could score a World Cup hat-trick like Karim Benzema. Think of the advertising dollars to be made for FIFA (nudge, nudge, Sepp Blatter).
Of course, we Aussies have a vested interest. After all it was during our 6-0 shellacking by the French that Benzema broke his international goalscoring drought. So his form is partly due to the Socceroos.
For the sake of Benzema and his future grandchildren I am urging you to lobby FIFA to have this injustice overturned. The goal should have been awarded to the Frenchman.
Anyone who thinks it was an own goal is just plain wrong. The last word on all of this goes to none other then the bard himself who famously said: “Alas poor Benzema, you was robbed.”
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