England's Lampard thought he had equalised against Germany in the round of 16 encounter but Espinosa and his fellow officials did not see that the ball had clearly crossed the line and the effort was ruled out. -Photo by Reuters

MONTEVIDEO: Uruguayan assistant referee Mauricio Espinosa on Monday denied making a mistake over Frank Lampard’s ‘ghost goal’ against Germany, saying it was simply “bad luck” and “one of those things which happen in football.”

England’s Lampard thought he had equalised against Germany in the round of 16 encounter but Espinosa and his fellow officials did not see that the ball had clearly crossed the line and the effort was ruled out.

The Germans went on to win 4-1 and controversy ensued.

But Espinosa insisted to Uruguayan daily El Pais: “You cannot talk about an error as it was not a technical mistake. It was simply bad luck with the ball moving at high speed which we couldn’t see as it came down over the line — even though I was properly positioned.”

Following one of the most glaring referring errors at a World Cup referee Jorge Larrionda’s team of officials were not selected for the final phase of the tournament.

But Espinosa played down the issue.

“These things happen in football this happened at this time in that place.”

He added that the officials had only realised what had happened afterwards when they reviewed Lampard’s shot on television.

“It was a very bitter business — and we had prepared (for the tournament) for so long. But these things happen and that’s that,” said Espinosa, reflecting on the controversy, which revived the age-old debate about whether football world body FIFA should not allow officials recourse to video replay technology.

Following that error FIFA will discuss whether to introduce video replay technology on the goal-line in Cardiff at a previously scheduled meeting on July 21 and 22. -AFP