Question Number: 23606

Law 11 - Offside 7/3/2010

RE: pro Under 13

Kent Smith of menlo park, ca usa asks...

In today's WC game between Germany and Argentina, the 2nd goal for Germany should have not counted.... It is pretty clear that the attacker was ahead of the ball and the 2nd to last defender when the ball was played to him. They would have called this offside earlier in the WC, but not today. What is your perspective. Thanks.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kent
You are quite correct to state that if Klose was ahead of the ball in that situation he was in an offside position. From the camera angle it is difficult to tell conclusively. I looked at it a number of times and to me it looked like at the moment the ball was played Klose was in fact behind the ball and therefore not offside.
The Argentinians did not complain and the AR was very well position and he was good on offside all game. I might add that the AR does not have the benefit of slow motion or freeze frame and it would look like Klose was at least level with his team mate when the ball was played. His team mate moved towards goal so by the time the ball was touched by Klose it would look like he was well behind the passer.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The question is whether Klose was even with the ball when it was last touched by a teammate. If so, he was not in an offside position (regardless of the position of the second last defender).

The assistant referee must be sure of the offense to raise the flag. All doubts are resolved in favor of 'not offside.' In this case, however, it appeared that the assistant referee made the correct decision.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 23641