Question Number: 24483

Law 11 - Offside 1/13/2011

RE: Pro Adult

Sam of Orihuela, Spain asks...

Watching the Asian Cup there was a very important call that changed the game and I'm not sure if it was offside or not. The match was Syria-Japan (video of the incident here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkDVNSStZU0).

So we have a Japanese player (J1) who back passes the ball to his keeper, this one miskicks towards a Syrian player (S1), but a Japanese defender (J2) tries to avoid it and touches the ball back to his box. There, there was a Syrian player (S2) behind the last Japanese defending player who is then brought down by the goalkeeper.

The linesman raised the flag, but the referee said there wasn't offside because the ball came off a defender and a penalty kick was given.

Ok, considering it's not clear who touched the ball (if S1 or J2), we take for granted it was J2. I think it'd still be an offside position, because the defender had no control over the ball and he didn't give a pass to his keeper. He tried to cut the ball and it was a miskick or a deflection or whatever you want to call it, and a player in an offside position became active after this and benefited from it. But I'm not completely sure.

So the question is clear: Offside or not?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Sam
The question the referee has to ask is whether the ball was played by the Japanese defender or the Syrian attacker. It cannot be offside if it is not touched by a red Syrian attacker. The referee was well placed to view who played the ball and he was adamant that it was not offside due to it being played by the Japanese defender. It will have looked like a possible offside to the AR who was correct to raise the flag. The referee as he is entitled to do made the final offside decision.

As I said it can only be offside if it was touched/played by the Syrian attacker towards the penalty area. If you think about it Japan had control of the ball and the last two touches were Japanese players, that is the pass to the GK and his hurried clearance. It is the final touch that determines offside and clearly the referee's view that it was played by another Japanese defender so no Syrian touched the ball on the last three touches. If there was a touch by the Red Syrian attacker it would be offside even if that was not deliberate.
IMO watching it a number of times I would go with the referee's call and the correct decision was made.