Soccer offsides rule explained...

[D J B]

Give ME the guy who put the "n" in badmi(n)ton. Very irksome.
Vaguely related to all this are a couple of observations about this morning's epic. First, the announcers called the exact location of the first two penalty kicks attempted by the Dutch, one in regulation, one in the shoot-out. They observed where the last attempt had been made by each player, and both tried to repeat the effort. Alyssa stopped both, as if she knew where they were going. Amazing.
Finally, did anyone notice the Kiwi player name Paige Satchell? Flip that.

I remember many years ago listening to a teammate talking about how Hope Solo would spend many hours studying film of other teams, taking detailed notes about players, their tendencies, and especially how they took penalty shots. I'm sure Naeher does exactly the same thing. An observant keeper can also pick up on many little things in body language that give away a shooter's intention.

 

[D J B]

Also, name another sport with so few substitutes. And if you sub out, you can't sub back in again. If you use all your allotted subs, and then a player gets hrt, you can't put another player in.

Imagine youth soccer if they had the pros substitution rules.

Also, if a player gets sent off for a red card, or two yellows which equals a red card, you play a man down for the remainder of the game. And that player is also disqualified from playing in the next match as well. By the way, a player can earn a red card and be sent off for accumulating two yellow cards total in two consecutive games.

 

[D J B]

OK, in-coming accepted. Fire away! Soccer, what this rest of the world mistaking calls "football", is an extremely stupid sport. Name 2 other sports where the clock counts UP to the end of the game. What other sport allows the referees (or whatever they are called) to add additional minutes, by some mysterious means, to the end of the game? How can a game go the better part of 3 hours, end in a zero-zero tie, and be call exciting? Give me badminton or give me death!

You may think it's extremely stupid (and it's clear you know absolutely nothing about it), but it is still the number one sport in the world, and it's not really close.

10 Most Popular Sports in the World

Badminton didn't make the list, but table tennis is ranked at number seven.

 

[Plebe]

OK, in-coming accepted. Fire away! Soccer, what this rest of the world mistaking calls "football", is an extremely stupid sport. Name 2 other sports where the clock counts UP to the end of the game. What other sport allows the referees (or whatever they are called) to add additional minutes, by some mysterious means, to the end of the game? How can a game go the better part of 3 hours, end in a zero-zero tie, and be call exciting? Give me badminton or give me death!

Regarding the clock counting up:

"The clock in soccer counts up rather than down to allow the timekeeping during a soccer game to be as simple as possible. This simplicity enables soccer to be played with a single referee in possession of a simple timepiece anywhere in the world."

| Your Soccer Home

You have probably noticed that the clock in soccer works differently from the clock in other sports. In soccer, the time on the clock counts…

yoursoccerhome.com

The article also includes a discussion of the "stoppage time" question.

 

[D J B]

Regarding the clock counting up:

"The clock in soccer counts up rather than down to allow the timekeeping during a soccer game to be as simple as possible. This simplicity enables soccer to be played with a single referee in possession of a simple timepiece anywhere in the world."

| Your Soccer Home

You have probably noticed that the clock in soccer works differently from the clock in other sports. In soccer, the time on the clock counts…

yoursoccerhome.com

The article also includes a discussion of the "stoppage time" question.

That site has plenty of good information for anyone wanting to understand the game.

 

[LoboDays]

There seems to be a new wrinkle in this offsides process. In some situations, the asst ref doesn’t raise the flag immediately but waits.. play continues for a while and then the flag goes up. The announcers were complaining about it ( somerhing about letting the video replay handle it.) They we’re saying that if someone Got injured during the time between the offside occurring and the flag is raised, it would be a shame. I don’t get. What is the asst ref waiting to see?

 

[CL82]

Why not put a line on the field? This offsides rule in soccer is horrible. The fact that a defender dictates what is and what isn't offsides is just bizarre.

Nah, it's just...

I may be prejudiced having spent many a season yelling, "pull them up" and I wasn't talking about low hanging shorts.

 

[CL82]

"The clock in soccer counts up rather than down to allow the timekeeping during a soccer game to be as simple as possible. This simplicity enables soccer to be played with a single referee in possession of a simple timepiece anywhere in the world."

Say what? Why would that make any difference whatsoever whether the clock is running down or up?

 

[stamfordhusky]

There seems to be a new wrinkle in this offsides process. In some situations, the asst ref doesn’t raise the flag immediately but waits.. play continues for a while and then the flag goes up. The announcers were complaining about it ( somerhing about letting the video replay handle it.) They we’re saying that if someone Got injured during the time between the offside occurring and the flag is raised, it would be a shame. I don’t get. What is the asst ref waiting to see?

Unless it is a very clear offside, the AR usually waits to put up the flag. That allows play to continue in case it turns out the AR is wrong. If she pops the flag in error and the ref blows the whistle, it could cost the attacking team a goal - which is a HUGE deal in such a low-scoring sport. Alternately, If she waits to put up the flag, then the error can be undone by VAR in case an undeserved goal is scored. So nothing is lost and the game is not really affected. What Foudy said made no sense. A player could get hurt at any point in the 120 minutes - but not because the AR held off on the call. You'd hear her screaming 100x louder if the AR erroneously put up the flag in real time and it cost the U.S. a goal in a tight knockout game.

 

[stamfordhusky]

By the way, a player can earn a red card and be sent off for accumulating two yellow cards total in two consecutive games.

No. If a player gets yellow cards in two consecutive games, she is banned from the next game. But she is not sent off.

 

[LoboDays]

Unless it is a very clear offside, the AR usually waits to put up the flag. That allows play to continue in case it turns out the AR is wrong. If she pops the flag in error and the ref blows the whistle, it could cost the attacking team a goal - which is a HUGE deal in such a low-scoring sport. Alternately, If she waits to put up the flag, then the error can be undone by VAR in case an undeserved goal is scored. So nothing is lost and the game is not really affected. What Foudy said made no sense. A player could get hurt at any point in the 120 minutes - but not because the AR held off on the call. You'd hear her screaming 100x louder if the AR erroneously put up the flag in real time and it cost the U.S. a goal in a tight knockout game.

Thanks.

 

[Mdoggie]

Man I miss packing up the SUV and heading down to San Diego or out to Vegas for the soccer showcases! Such fun. Those days are long gone, however we parents are still friends and get together when we can. Not so much now due to covid.

 

[JoePgh]

OK, you offside rule experts, please explain the call on the play where a Netherlands goal was disallowed for offside. As I recall the play, a player in orange fired a shot which bounced off the crossbar of the USA goal. As it bounced up in the air (vertical or nearly so), a Netherlands player rushed in behind the USA defense to strike it home for a rebound goal.

The goal was nullified as offside, allegedly because the apparent scorer was behind the USA defense. But she was still facing the ball (i.e., the ball was between her and the goal). If the ball counts as two defenders (i.e., having the ball ahead of you nullifies offside even if you have passed the last defender), then why was this goal disallowed?

 

[Hoops66]

I've always wondered what a soccer game would be like if there was "no offsides". Let the final scores be 19-13 or something. Make playing defense...defensive. Spare officials making calls they may well have to guess. And give the fans something more exciting than nil-nils forever! Hockey is far more fun to watch than it was when there was 2 line offsides called every 2 minutes. Maybe soccer would be too?

 

[Plebe]

OK, you offside rule experts, please explain the call on the play where a Netherlands goal was disallowed for offside. As I recall the play, a player in orange fired a shot which bounced off the crossbar of the USA goal. As it bounced up in the air (vertical or nearly so), a Netherlands player rushed in behind the USA defense to strike it home for a rebound goal.

The goal was nullified as offside, allegedly because the apparent scorer was behind the USA defense. But she was still facing the ball (i.e., the ball was between her and the goal). If the ball counts as two defenders (i.e., having the ball ahead of you nullifies offside even if you have passed the last defender), then why was this goal disallowed?

What matters is the players' position at the moment the ball was contacted by the teammate (the "pass"). As noted by @stamfordhusky above, the rebound off the goal frame does not alter the offside situation.

In this case it was a header by a Dutch player off a corner kick that rebounded off the crossbar, which was then headed into goal by another player. But at the moment of the first header, the scoring player was clearly in an offside position.

 

[stamfordhusky]

OK, you offside rule experts, please explain the call on the play where a Netherlands goal was disallowed for offside. As I recall the play, a player in orange fired a shot which bounced off the crossbar of the USA goal. As it bounced up in the air (vertical or nearly so), a Netherlands player rushed in behind the USA defense to strike it home for a rebound goal.

The goal was nullified as offside, allegedly because the apparent scorer was behind the USA defense. But she was still facing the ball (i.e., the ball was between her and the goal). If the ball counts as two defenders (i.e., having the ball ahead of you nullifies offside even if you have passed the last defender), then why was this goal disallowed?

The Netherlands player was behind the last defender (and nearer to the goal than the ball) when the shot was taken. Where the player is at that moment determines offside position. It doesn't matter what happens after that - until one of her teammates touches the ball to reset the onside situation, or until a defender controls the ball.

To determine offside position, you basically take a mental snapshot of where everybody is each time the ball is touched by an attacking player. That determines offside position. If a player is in offside position, she can't undo that until the ball is touched again by one of her teammates - or until the ball is controlled (not just touched) by a defender.

 

[The Viking]

You can only be offsides in your attacking half of the field. The line (you ask for) is at midfield. This eliminates “cherry picking” Also there is no offsides on a throw in.

Send it out farther like hockey does. Keep the defender out of the rules definition. Open up the field to allow for more scoring and maybe have less games come down to ridiculous penalty kicks.

 

[Waquoit]

I've always wondered what a soccer game would be like if there was "no offsides". Let the final scores be 19-13 or something.

It was called indoor soccer and it was boring.

 

[Waquoit]

OK, in-coming accepted. Fire away! Soccer, what this rest of the world mistaking calls "football", is an extremely stupid sport.

What's truly stupid is calling gridiron, football. How many times is a foot actually used to strike the ball in a game? Less times than in the first few minutes of a soccer game I would imagine.

 

[Plebe]

Send it out farther like hockey does. Keep the defender out of the rules definition. Open up the field to allow for more scoring and maybe have less games come down to ridiculous penalty kicks.

But but but ... without PKs we would never have the MAN, the MYTH, the LEGEND that is SCOTT STERLING!

 

[D J B]

What's truly stupid is calling gridiron, football. How many times is a foot actually used to strike the ball in a game? Less times than in the first few minutes of a soccer game I would imagine.

Actually, the first minute of a soccer(football) game.

 

[Boreifs]

OK, in-coming accepted. Fire away! Soccer, what this rest of the world mistaking calls "football", is an extremely stupid sport. Name 2 other sports where the clock counts UP to the end of the game. What other sport allows the referees (or whatever they are called) to add additional minutes, by some mysterious means, to the end of the game? How can a game go the better part of 3 hours, end in a zero-zero tie, and be call exciting? Give me badminton or give me death!

Most of the rest of the world thinks Baseball and Cricket are also stupid. If one has played a game, the perspective changes. By the way, Billions of people would laugh at you if they read your post. I played some recreational soccer in Germany and accompanied my colleagues to several games; also coached my son’s team. IMO, your criticism is unfortunate; you’re missing a great sport through lack of knowledge.

 

[Jackcatscal]

I’d like to hear some dude from The Netherlands or Brazil explaining baseball’s infield fly rule.

 

[D J B]

I’d like to hear some dude from The Netherlands or Brazil explaining baseball’s infield fly rule.

90% of American baseball fans couldn't explain it. LOL.

 

[D J B]

Send it out farther like hockey does. Keep the defender out of the rules definition. Open up the field to allow for more scoring and maybe have less games come down to ridiculous penalty kicks.

No. Just let soccer be soccer. By far, most games do not come down to penalty kicks, but when they do, it's a nail biter that other sports don't have. Soccer has it's own rules for a reason.