FIFA, which stands for Football Intelligensia Frozen by Arrogance, has proudly refused to use anything remotely approaching modern technology to bring soccer into the 21st century.

The mandarins at FIFA see this as something of a badge of honor, keeping modernity at arm's length lest they spoil the beautiful game. They're like the Taliban of sports. They don't need no stinkin' technology.

It's patent nonsense, of course, like much of what FIFA does. The only thing FIFA does well is make money. But their paternalistic approach to the modern game produces debacles like yesterday's goal by England's Frank Lampard, which wasn't a goal because neither the referee nor the linesman could see what billions watching around the world could, which is the ball clearly passing the goal line before rebounding up and out of the net.

It was a case of history repeating itself, 44 years later. In 1966, when England won its first and only World Cup, it did so when Geoff Hurst's kick off the crossbar was ruled to have crossed the line when bouncing straight down before bouncing out of the net. England went up 3-2 and went on to the win the game, and the Cup, 4-2. Not for nothin', but when she handed out the trophy back then, Queen Elizabeth was a babe.

Lampard's ball was eerily similar, but this time England didn't get the call.

Timing is everything, whether it's 1966 or 2010. England had just scored, narrowing Germany's lead to 2-1, when Lampard sent a volley over the head of German keeper Manuel Neuer. Had the goal been properly recognized, England would have been level and would have gotten the first real momentum it had after a desultory group stage in which they finished second to the Americans.

Look, English teams always look better on paper than on the pitch. This was an English side that, like Italy, was long on experience and short on fresh legs. Lampard and Steven Gerrard play terrific for their club teams, Chelsea and Liverpool, respectively. But they never seem to make each other better. The English back line got beat to loose balls repeatedly by Germany's young guns. Germany's Thomas Mueller is a 20-year-old who finishes like a seasoned veteran, and Mueller's brilliance made Wayne Rooney's inability to score a goal in four games stand out even more.

So this isn't an England team that was going to repeat the magic of 1966, TV replay or not.

But we'll never know, will we? We'll never know what would have happened if Frank Lampard's goal was recognized. How the young German team would have reacted to surrendering a two-goal lead so quickly? How a veteran English team would have responded, given that vital dose of adrenalin?

It was all to play for in the second half, and Germany outplayed England, no doubt. Even Gerrard wouldn't deny it, and the 4-1 margin turned out to be England's worse defeat in World Cup play.

But it's a little ridiculous that FIFA won't allow some basic technology to take the world stage alongside the greatest footballers on the planet. It cheats us all.