Question Number: 25778

Law 11 - Offside 11/27/2011

RE: Adult

Suljone of Zagreb, Croatia asks...

Attacker A is in the offside position. Attacker B advances forward controlling the ball.
Defender poke-tackles the ball away from him, and ball goes to the attacker A who continues with active play.

Should that be offside because defender didn't reset situation controlling the ball?

Relevant link: Barca - Getafe Nov 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g9g32-93G4&feature=feedf

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Offside can only be called after a teammate touches the ball. The defender in that clip, while not making a controlled play on the ball, did deliberately kick it. It wasn't a deflection/rebound after the attacker played it.

I suspect the referee and AR could not see who played the ball forward. It looked like it was a pass from a teammate, which would be a reasonable play as the attacker would have played the ball away from the defenders. Unfortunately, it was the defender who played the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

The video clearly shows the ball was played by the defender so there should be no offside. May have been impossible for referee view to have seen this

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

At the highest levels, the referee is likely to observe a controlled play by the defender (rather than a deflection) in these circumstances, and judge that the correct call is not offside. At all levels, it can be very difficult to judge who last touched the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Suljone
With the benefit of action play and slow motion we are able to determine that the ball may have been last played by a defender so offside should not be called.
However the match officials do not have the benefit of such technology and the they can only give what they see. In this case the AR believed that the ball was last played by Messi hence his flag for offside. Interesting enough Messi does not complain to the referee about the call perhaps because he was unsure who touched the ball last as well.

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