Friday 27 April 2018, 02:53

48 days to go: Was it over the line?

The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ is getting closer – 48 days to go!

In less than two months' time – on 14 June, to be precise – the 21st FIFA World Cup™ kicks off at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, as the hosts take on Saudi Arabia.​

That leaves us plenty of time to enjoy a countdown. Between now and the start of the World Cup, we will take a closer look at a different statistic from the history of the tournament each day.​​

48 The number of minutes on the clock in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ group match between France and Honduras when goal-line technology (GLT) was used to award a goal for the first time in the tournament’s history.

It all came about when Yohan Cabaye played an exquisite ball into the path of Karim Benzema, whose first-time volley crashed against the left-hand post of the Honduran goal and struck goalkeeper Noel Valladares as it bounced out. Try as he might, Valladares could not prevent the ball from rebounding from him and crossing the line by a few short centimetres.

The date was 15 June 2014 and it will go down in the sport’s record books as the day on which technology made its first appearance in deciding if a world finals goal should be awarded or not.