Question Number: 23601

Law 10 - Method of Scoring 7/2/2010

RE: Adult

Gabriel of las vegas, nv usa asks...

If a player other than the goal keeper uses his hands to stop the ball from going in the goal, does it count as a score because the ball was going in before it was stopped? ie. Uruguay vs Ghana. July 2 2010 in overtime.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Gabriel
The answer is no. For a goal to be scored the whole of the ball must pass over the goal line, between the goalposts and under the crossbar, provided that no infringement of the Laws of the Game has been committed previously by the team scoring the goal.
In the incident you refer to the referee made the correct decision. As the Uruguayan player deliberately handled the ball inside the penalty area preventing it entering the goal the decision is a penalty kick. The player also denied an obvious goal through deliberate handling and the Laws state that the player must be dismissed. He misses the next match as a result.
Some sports allow for certain scores that have been denied by an offence to be counted. Soccer is not one of them. The penalty kick is soccer's way of dealing with it. Research has shown that approx 85% of penalty kicks are successful.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The punishment to a field player for preventing a goal by deliberate handling is a red card and a free kick to the attacking team (a penalty kick if the handling occurs inside the penalty area).

The referee was 100 percent correct in awarding a penalty kick to Ghana and sending off and showing the red card to the player from Uruguay.

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

See Question: 23635