FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa

[Steve Williams]

Can you explain the off side rule. I thought the guy who scored was in front of the defender and in the replay I could see that but the commentator said nom he wasn't.

 

[JackD201]

Oh boy, that OCTOPUS is something else!

One of the best World Cups in memory. It's fantastic how football skill has progressed and is beginning to even out globally. It really is a WORLD cup now with Africa and Asia deep in the mix.

The three best teams took the three top spots. Congratulations to Espana, Netherlands and Deutschland.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi
The offside rule is pretty arcane in itself. It says that the offensive player must be aligned or behind a line formed by the most backward defender (the other team) and a perpendicular from the defender(s) and the sideline at the moment the ball leaves the foot of the other offensive player who's passing the ball ... That's the short version ...

In today's case, the Spaniard player was aligned with the defender(s) actually a step behind ... he moved as soon as the ball was struck in his direction, faster than the defense reacted, thus catching the ball before they got to it and scored a legit goal ..

 

[JackD201]

Exactly as Frantz says. Watch from 3:15 and onwards in this video of the exact goal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3a_CEH-GKc&feature=player_embedded

It illustrates what Frantz is saying.

What to look for is the position of the attacker relative to the second to the last defender (last player aside from the goalkeeper) in a horizontal line (think yard lines in American Football) when the ball is played (passed).

It's about timing the sprint. Using a basketball analogy, you are not offside of you recieve an alley-oop pass and score if you had to get around your man to catch it. You are off-side if you catch it all by yourself with just the center between you and the bucket.