The USA just beat Algeria 1-0, with Landon Donovan scoring in extra time. This means that our team will advance to the next round of the World Cup.

That’s the headline. But we almost didn’t make it. In the first half, a referee once again disallowed an American goal that clearly was good, as instant replay showed. If the score had stood at 0-0, USA would have been knocked out of the World Cup because of a pair of horribly botched calls, in the previous game and in this one.

I am now 100-percent convinced that soccer needs video review, especially for contested goals.

I have a small amount of sympathy for today’s referee. Soccer’s offside rule is hard to officiate, especially with only one guy on the field and two line judges. It’s just a hard call to make and not enough eyes to make it consistently accurate. So it’s built to fail. Video review would fix the problem.