Question Number: 23602

Law 11 - Offside 7/3/2010

RE: Rec Under 13

Peter of Stockton, CA USA asks...

Hi

I have a World Cup question for you. In the Paraguay vs Spain game, the disallowed goal for Paraguay, why was it off-side? Number 7 was clearly off side but did not touch the ball, number 18 looked very close but from the replay the player does look to be on side. My daughter (who is also a referee) and I decided that the off side call was due to the fact that player 7 went for the ball which distracted at least one defender.

What do you think?

Cheers

Peter

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Peter
The decision in my opinion could have been given for offside against No 7 as he interfered with an opponent by jumping for the ball in flight so close to the Spanish defender. I suspect though that the AR gave No 18 offside as the flag does not go up until that player touches the ball.
It was the correct decision but I am not sure he arrived at it correctly. Only the AR will know.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

I wondered this myself. I can only surmise that the AR could not see through the players to #18, and guessed that he, too, was in an offside position like #7. Since it didn't appear that #7 was able to touch the ball, and since it appeared #18 was onside when the ball was played, we are left to wonder. Only the AR in that instance could give us the real answer.

We in the US are trained not to raise the flag for offside unless we are certain the player in an offside position has either interfered with play (touched or likely to touch the ball), interfered with an opponent (distracted or otherwise impeded his ability to see or play the ball) or gained an advantage (plays a rebound or deflection from the goal posts or crossbar or a defender).