Question Number: 34229

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 5/22/2021

RE: Under 19

jim john bates of london, uk United Kingdom asks...

A forward is attacking the opponents goal he is in the penalty area , he rounds the goalkeepr and is then fouled by a defender, he stumbles but manages to regain his balance the referee plays advantage but With an open goal in front of him he shoots wide.
What is the correct decision .

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jim John
The answer rests in the opinion of the referee as to whether advantage was fully realised or not.
This could go either way as the referee may feel that the attacker has not fully recovered his balance and that advantage was compromised.
Alternatively a referee could opine that the miss was entirely an error by the attacker and not connected to the foul in which case the restart is a goal kick.

I recall a number of seasons ago in a game where a player who was through on goal was fouled by the goalkeeper just inside of the penalty area. Ordinarily it would have been a penalty kick. Anyway the ball goes to a team mate on his left who advances towards the open goal and as I assume it was on 2nd attacker's weaker kicking foot he kicked the ball into the side netting which was an incredible miss. Now the reaction of everyone was not on the offence by the goalkeeper but rather the miss by the attacker. The foul had zero impact on the subsequent play so I restarted with a goal kick with no complaint by the attacking side. Technically I could have gone back to the foul as the foul happened within seconds of the offence and whether the first attacker had intended to go left to follow the ball or not in which case advantage might not have been fully realised. It was a rare event yet the *best* decision for me was a goal kick.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Jim,
we can not award a goal even if we believe the miss was due to the player not being fully recovered from the initial foul Yet we can go back to the initial foul of the free-kick event if we are unconvinced the miss was solely due to the attacker making a hash out of it. I have seen a player miss from a yard out, in front of goal, all alone, completely unencumbered by an opponent so it can occur. That said remember though if DOGSO was there not only the PK but a player sent off is up for consideration versus a missed attempt. While there is room to consider advantage WAS met there is also room to consider maybe it was not!
Cheers