Question Number: 30722

Law 11 - Offside 9/6/2016

RE: Professional

Tarr of quartz hill ca, calif usa asks...

Canada vs Salvador. Salvador defender has ball in his penalty area. Kicks ball to clear but ball deflects off Canada player in onside position and goes to Canada player in offside position. Goal scored. 1. Goal is allowed? Why? 2. Ball appears to deflect off Canada player arm that is protecting his stomach. Could referee disallow goal due'handling ball'??

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Tarr
Obvious error by the referee crew. This was clearly offside as the ball was last touched by Red #10 Canada to a Red team mate #21 clearly in an offside position. I suspect that the AR thought that the ball was mis-kicked directly by White El Salvador to the PIOP which would not then be offside. The use of the left foot in such a position may have suggested a poor kick rather than a deflection of Red. The referee I would say because of his position may have assumed that Red PIOP was in an onside position due to no flag by his assistant.
As regards deliberate handling there was none in my opinion. The ball is kicked by White at close range and it hits Red #10 on the arm in a natural position. That probably did not help the offside call either as the referee was no doubt challenged by White about handling.
What the play shows is that referee rely 100% on ARs for offsides. Here was an example of the referee knowing something is wrong and speaking on the headset that the ball came off Red #10 last not a kick from White would have helped the call. The assistant could also have shouted on the set as to how did the ball get to the Red #21 scorer. Another case were the Video Assistant Referee VAR could sort this in seconds. No goal IDFK to White
BTW the 3rd Canadian goal was also offside as the scorer Red #5 is ahead of the last defender. Not a good night for the referee crew

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Tarr,
nothing to say but the referee crew has much to answer for as the 1st goal was BLATANTLY offside. The Canadian 3rd goal was marginally offside but no doubt El Salvador will feel a tad irritated upon review. The 1st goal was a deflection off a Canadian attacker after a poor defensive clearance smacked the ball into his arm. NO handling criteria was even remotely met just a whiff by the AR and CR in not figuring out to correctly disallow the goal and award an INDFK out . The 3rd goal had the Canadian goal scorer a step ahead of the 2nd last defender that was at least close and I can see it might be missed in real time. There is little excuse though for missing the 1st offside goal.
Cheers