If you’ve been watching the first three days of World Cup action, chances are you’ve noticed a new tool at the disposal of the referee. Whenever a free kick is called near the goal, watch the referee pull out a can of what appears to be mace. It isn’t mace, it’s actually very near to shaving cream, and it has quickly become the best friend of referees and free kick specialists alike.

When a player takes a free kick, defenders must be at least 10 yards away from the ball. However, most defenders will stand eight, seven, or six yards away until the referee walks them back. Once the referee paces off ten yards, the players start to creep up again. It’s a mad dance of deception that has gone on for decades. But now, there’s a solution.

“You spray a circle around the ball and a line 10 yards away for the defenders,” English World Cup referee Howard Webb explained to the BBC. “It will assist us in getting the players back at a free-kick and, in turn, that gives the attacking team a better opportunity of creating something from that set-piece.”

After a few minutes, the spray disappears and the game continues without a trace of the foamy white stuff.

The vanishing spray debuted at Copa America in 2011 and has been in Major League Soccer since that time, but the spray is making its World Cup debut in 2014. So far, it seems to be one innovation everyone can get behind, including Andrea Pirlo.

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