As we make our way through the driest part of the NFL offseason, I, like most sports addicts, had to look elsewhere to get my fix. Fortunately, the World Cup gave us a “Will Reichard wire” moment that made me feel right at home as a Minnesota Vikings fan.
This summer has been chock-full of high-profile sporting events. Chief among them is the FIFA World Cup, hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico. The United States’ brief run ended after Belgium thrashed them 4-1. It was a game that reminded most of us gung-ho fans that we are still a ways away from being taken seriously as a soccer nation. (Yes, I said soccer. It’s called soccer.)
I had to pick a new team to back. Luckily for me, as a Vikings fan, Norway was the easy choice among the remaining teams.
While, yes, choosing an allegiance to a national soccer team based on whom you support in the NFL is a wild thing to do, the Vikings and Norway have a lot in common. Vikings fans have the Skol Chant, and the Norwegians have the Viking row. Both teams’ success is also largely predicated on their generational superstar who continues to shatter every record. Norway’s Erling Haaland drives winning as Justin Jefferson does in Minnesota.
But if these comparisons weren’t enough, both fanbases have another thing to share: a hatred of camera wires and their impact on the game.
In the Norway-England quarterfinal, there appeared to be some controversy immediately after Norway took the lead. Norway keeper Ørjan Nyland launched a goal kick into the air and watched the ball come down in an unusual way. England’s Elliot Anderson picked it up and carried it up the pitch, where Jude Bellingham scored the equalizer.
Immediately, Nyland gestured to the official, requesting a review, stating that the ball had hit a camera wire and the goal should be reversed. Unfortunately, as has happened frequently in this World Cup, the video-assist referee didn’t make the right decision. He failed to review what was easily one of the clearest cases of an object out of play altering the ball’s trajectory.
To add insult to injury, FIFA immediately attempted to cover up their mistake, gaslighting people who watched the game and the clips of the alleged camera-wire incident. FIFA stated that there was no evidence that the ball touched the camera wire because the “heartbeat of the ball” showed no peak while in the air.
That felt reminiscent of another incident with an English connection, when the Vikings played the Cleveland Browns in London this season. Kicker Will Reichard had an uncharacteristic 51-yard miss right before halftime, as if the ball were sputtering on its own.
Much like Nyland’s goal kick, a Skycam wire almost undoubtedly affected the ball’s trajectory. Much like FIFA, the NFL’s immediate response was to shield itself and the officials from any responsibility and blame for an obvious missed call.
Think back to Minnesota’s Week 9 Thursday night matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, when Al Michaels mentioned that Reichard’s only miss of the season came from the camera-wire incident and later was forced to backtrack the statement in the second half after receiving a call from the NFL Rules Analyst Walt Anderson.
Reichard’s missed kick didn’t affect the game after Minnesota beat the Browns in a last-second thriller. However, it mattered for Norway. The 1-1 game went into extra time, where they lost after Nyland spilled a save into Bellingham’s path, who scored the winning goal.
While the Norwegian coach Ståle Solbakken said the camera wire isn’t the reason they lost, it is a big part of why the game ended the way it did. Even more frustrating is the lack of transparency from the NFL and FIFA in these situations and their desire to cover their own backsides instead. In doing so, they are gaslighting their own fans instead of being transparent and truthful when an officiating mistake led to unfavorable outcomes for some teams.
Fortunately, that was the only controversy in the World Cup, and the Vikings are in no way cursed.
Okay, maybe that’s too much summertime optimism. But, at the very least, Reichard knows someone shares his frustration and is perhaps a little further vindicated by this eerily similar incident.
