Question Number: 22862

Law 11 - Offside 2/24/2010

RE: rec Adult

hany of cairo, egypt asks...

all people urged about this goal some said it is right others said it is offside
pro: said it came from the defence and the offense came back to a non offside state

please see the goal and judge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy4Bv4IQ-cw

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Hany
This is not an easy situation to judge, even with the aid of technology. At real time in a match situation I would say that it could only be seen by the AR as not offside.
What we can determine from the video is
1. The goalscorer was in an offside position when the ball was played by his team mate.
2. The touch by the defender can be seen as either control or not. It could be viewed that maybe he tried to play the ball towards the goalkeeper but failed or indeed it was not enough control to reset the offside.
Having viewed it at normal speed and from the reactions of the players I believe that in the absence of any certainty on 2 above, the benefit should be given to the attack and a goal was the 'best' decision. In addition there is no obvious call for offside or complaint about the goal being awarded which is also a factor. The defence seem to accept that it was poor defending rather than offside.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

After several replays and stop action, to me it looks like *maybe* the goal scorer was in an offside position at the time the ball was last played by a teammate (the shot that was blocked by the defender). I really can't tell. Hopefully the AR would be in position to be able to see it.

The bounce off the defender has to be considered a rebound, not a deliberate play. So if the attacker was in an offside position at the time of the first shot, he should be offside and the goal should not count.

It all depends on what the AR saw. It's that close.