Question Number: 34385

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 10/16/2021

RE: Rec and competitive, youth to adult.

Barry Stewart of Chilliwack, BC Canada asks...

Highlights from Jordyn Huitema's hat-trick. ("HIGH-te-ma" is the correct pronunciation.)

Despite her being a home-town player, I feel she makes a foul before her first goal, contacting the defender's shoulder blade. After contact, the player stumbles forward, rather than sideways.

Did she also make contact before the ball was in playing distance? No way could she have reached the ball when the barging contact was made.

Second goal is a great example of clearly being onside when the first shot was made... then LOOKING like she was offside when she headed the ball in.

Your thoughts?

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canada-jordyn-huitema-scores-hat-trick-soccer-1.6209661?fbclid=IwAR22gIwJzMcWl98XPCt-AJQlY7fgd2c3QWH7M_XsPuxO-p52G_nHMjlAscA

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Barry
Thanks for the video and the question.
At this level I would have no issue with the shoulder charge which looked okay to me. The PSG player was simply too strong for the defender who should have anticipated a charge and braced herself much stronger. You will note as well there is little if any complaint from the opponents.

I think with video slow motion etc that a case could to find a foul such as use of the arm, slightly in the back rather than the side, playing distance of the ball at the moment if contact etc. At normal speed this would have just looked like a regular shoulder charge.

I recall not giving one like this a few seasons ago and the conceding team went apoplectic. To me the forward was just too strong and it was the winning goal in extra time. The defender did not berate me as he knew the opponent was just too strong whereas his team mates and coaches saw it as an illegal charge. They also jnew it was probably going to be the winning goal. The final whistle resulted in a lot of verbals yet interestingly the defender came over, shook my hand and went towards the changing room.

On the second goal it was clearly onside and it shows how ARs must be 100% tuned in and concentrating fully all of the time.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Barry ,
good to see the Canadians lightening it up lately in both womans and mens play. The referee was looking striaignt into ths challenge from about 25 yds and we saw no real complaints from the opposition,. Even the player on the ground realized she was simply outmatched physicaly as I saw no evidence she felt fouled more of dissapointment ? If you watch you will notice the defenders' inside leg was raised so her balance was easily upset. Jordyn Huitema three goals in 17 minutes were a result of personal and team efforts like the number 11 who laid off the 3rd one.. They looked efficent I noted Kadiesha Buchanan scored 2 for Lyon. Hard for me to know who to cheer for when Kadeisha Buchanan is going up against Cloe Lacasse from Portugal's Benfica in group D. I am happy to see the CAnadians ladies getting rewarded for all their hard wotk since beating Sweden in the oylmpic finals

Good strikers have a tendancy to be in the right spot when its time to be there! lol
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Barry,

The first goal is a tricky one. To me it looks like the attacker is only ever heading straight for the ball, while I think the defender is moving off her line to block the attacker. You could argue the defender was going to a different spot on the ball's path....but given the ball's moment, I'd say the defender was actually going to overshoot the ball. These are key considerations when you're looking at off-the-ball charging - muscling for position is one thing, and this happens when the players are on the line for the ball - they' can be muscling for position some distance away as long as they're muscling for position and not targeting the opponent. It's when a player has moved off their line that they start to have targeted the opponent.

I think the albeit tucked into the body) is straight into the back. So, that for me makes it a foul.

But, the other thing to consider is - who initiated the contact? For instance, sometimes in these cases the defender initiates contact by stepping across the front, immediately making contact - in that instance, whose fault is it that the attacker's shoulder is in the defender's back? Is it the attacker's, or the defender's? It could well be the latter - so who initiated contact and time to react are considerations.

I'm inclined the think the defender moving off their line to start with isn't reaching the level of impeding or any off-the-ball charging, and I think both players shared initiation of the contact, so it's a foul for me - but you need to also consider the standard and accepted physicality of play at this level - and I'm not familiar with the standard of this league.

I think the referee's positioning here was quite poor. Look at the moment the ball is with the winger - up until this point, the positioning is probably fine, but at THIS moment, the referee needs to be asking themselves:

- WHERE is play going to go?
- WHERE can I go to get the best view of it?
- GO!!!

The winger is clearly about to pump the ball upfield - so the referee needs to be moving BEFORE this happens. Where's it going? Well, who is running for it? You have a left striker making a run for it - it could be going there, or it could be switching to the centre or the right. Now, at this point the ref has their back to that side of play and the AR - if they were running, they can have the ball over their left shoulder and have a view of the attacking line.

Thing is - if the ball goes right, the AR can monitor fouls. If the ball goes central, then dead centre is actually a terrible spot to be as you want some angle and to keep the ball between you and your AR as much as practical. For some reason it seems that top-tier referees love to stay central of the PA, and I see so many poor decisions as a direct result.

This ref should be running upfield and heading left. She doesn't move until AFTER the pass is made - this is REACTIVE refereeing, not PROACTIVE, and does not demonstrate situational awareness.

As a result, she is quite a long way from the challenge. To her credit, she did start running well, and as least she is heading left - but she could've been almost on the edge of the PA by the time the challenge occurred. Remember - in this corner you have no help from your AR, so you NEED to be in an excellent position.

She also ended up being directly behind the charge - this is the worst possible place to be as it's very, very difficult to tell if it's fair or from behind - can't blame the ref here due to the angle of play, not much she could have done - but if she was closer, then she gives herself more movement options instead of chasing directly behind.

As for the 2nd goal - Agree, and it was good to see the AR respond appropriately (run upfield immediately as her 'good goal' signal).