Question Number: 24332

Law 5 - The Referee 11/15/2010

RE: comp Under 19

jay of elk grove, ca USA asks...

I recently AR'd a game where the goalie clearly fouled the attacker in the box. The ball landed at the feet of the fouled player with an open goal in front of her. The ref allowed advantage and the player missed the goal. She didn't allow the PK since the player had the advantage and missed. Should the PK have been awarded after advantage and missed shot?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Anywhere else on the field, the player had her advantage, and squandered it. The play should be called back for the foul only if the foul contributed to her missing the goal. For example, she might be off-balance or stumbling from a trip, causing her to make a poor shot. But if she simply missed the net, that's too bad, but that's her doing, not caused by the foul.

But this was inside the penalty area. For the last year or so, USSF has been teaching that the only advantage that can be realized for a foul inside the penalty area is a goal scored - and that goal should be scored "immediately" - roughly, one or two touches of the ball. The mechanics are not to signal advantage, but wait a moment to see if it materializes or not. Since the goal was not scored, there was no advantage -- even though the second player had ample opportunity to score the goal.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jay
Always a difficult call to make. In general once advantage has been played and realised then the player accepts the outcome of the play which in this case is a missed shot and a goal kick.
Where the difficulty arises is that the referee has to ensure that advantage has been fully realised and if in the opinion of the referee that it was not then play can be brought back within 2/3 seconds and the original free kick awarded.
USSF has advised referees to adopt a 'wait and see' approach before playing advantage inside the penalty area. The theory of "wait and see" provides the referee with "a few seconds" to decide whether to penalise or whether the apparent advantage actually materialises. If the referee identifies an advantage situation, he is empowered to wait a few seconds to see if the advantage actually develops. If it does not develop in those few seconds, the referee may then stop play for the original foul. This flexibility gives the referee a tool to implement flow in his games.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The current USSF teaching is that advantage within the penalty area is different. The referee gives no signal for advantage and hesitates to see what happens next. If a goal is not scored immediately, the referee will call for the penalty kick. In your example, the PK would be called.

Outside the US, the referee must decide if the advantage was realized. That often results in a penalty kick if the referee believes that the initial foul had any lingering effect on play.