Jason Dasey

Three decades ago, British band The Buggles wistfully sang, Video Killed The Radio Star. But, despite what Fifa president Sepp Blatter says, TV technology will do absolutely no harm to football if the sport decides to move into the 21st century.

This month's Confederations Cup in South Africa put the spotlight back on a hot talking point, with claims that at least one game was unofficially influenced by video evidence.

English referee Howard Webb made a match-changing decision as Brazil faced Egypt in Pretoria last week after receiving word through his earpiece from the fourth official, who had apparently had a clearer view from a TV monitor.

After a deliberate handball from midfielder Ahmed al-Muhammadi in the Egyptian goalmouth with the score at 3-3, Webb initially pointed to a corner, with his assistant making the same ruling. But a couple of minutes later, Webb amended his decision to a penalty and showed al-Muhammadi a red card.

Kaka converted the spot-kick in stoppage time to give the Brazilians a 4-3 victory, denying Egypt a point that would have ultimately taken them through to the semi-finals from group B ahead of the US. Even though they agreed it was a correct decision, the furious Egyptians lodged a protest.

'Since when do the regulations say it is a penalty based on the monitors or on the television?' asked Egyptian assistant coach Shawky Gharib. 'What we all know in football is that it is always the referee who makes the final decision, not the television or monitors.'