Question Number: 23456

Law 17 - Corner Kick 6/11/2010

RE: - Adult

doddy of jogja, jogja indonesia asks...

About the opening match of World CUp 2010, the offside against Vela.

There's still Pienarr as the last player of the defence side, why was Vela called offside?

Is it because there have to be 2 last defending player? or is it because the goalkeeper went forward?

thanks for the explanation.....

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Law 11: 'A player is in an offside position if: he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent'

In the RSA/MEX game, the second-last opponent was the goalkeeper. That doesn't happen often, but it isn't extremely rare either. It gives the assistant referee something else to remember as he views it, but I'm sure a referee at that level has experienced the goalkeeper being the second-last defender many times (whether or not there was an offside call to make at the time).

It really gets interesting to watch when the goalkeeper is the third- or fourth-last opponent!

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

The AR was spot on! The Mexican player, Vela, was in an offside position because he was closer to the goal line than the second to last defender and the ball. The keeper was the second to last defender here, and when Vela received the header from his team, he was offside. Additionally, he did not receive the ball directly from the corner kick, so was not exempted from the offside call.

It was an amazing almost goal.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

It's widely but wrongly assumed that inexplicably, the keeper is not a 'player'. Law 11 tells us that an attacker in the attacking half is in offside position if he is nearer the opponents goal line than both the ball and the next to last opponent. This by definition means if all that's left is the last opponent and the attacker is ahead of the ball also, he's in offside position