Women U20 W.C. in Germany 2010

[The Ref]

Looking at the goal of Sidney Leroux which allowed the U.S. to tie 1-1 versus Ghana it seems to me Leroux's goal was offside since the Ghana keeper had moved passed the last defender. Opinions or someone with better eyes?

[Vic]

[navycyr]

Quite close but appears to me as offside !

By the way, what's going on with USA girls ? They seem to be losing ground in international soccer. After being eliminated form U17 world Cup they now experience difficulties against Ghana in U20s.

[RJB]

Quite close but appears to me as offside !

By the way, what's going on with USA girls ? They seem to be losing ground in international soccer. After being eliminated form U17 world Cup they now experience difficulties against Ghana in U20s.

I think that other nations are gaining, not hte USA slipping.

As fo the above picture, if the ball is being played from one player in white to the other, it appears that they are level with each other, making her onside, no?

[The Ref]

I still think she was offside, but one needs to look at the video whole sequence available at fifa.com

[Vic]

Pretty common opinion on the USA forums that it was offside. Not as obvious as the England goal that was two feet in the net, more of a common slip up that happens when you have an official in full sprint down the sideline on a fast break.

Because of their culture the Africans can put out youth teams with some pretty superior athletes. The first African World Cup winner could well be a women's youth team. The purity of the word "youth" though will be debatable.

That aside the American performance in the 17/20 this year is indeed surprising. Young players struggle with nerves and consistency, for example the Germans stumbled to the Irish in the 17s and were lucky there was a 3rd Euro spot to save them. The Americans can still win the U20, but a poor showing there as well will emphasize the importance of the changes required in their development system that were brought up when the 17s failed to go through.

[navycyr]

Anybody can instruct me about the exact rule about offside according to your position to the ball ?

You are not offside as long as you are not in front of the ball. What does that exactely means ? Is it no part of your body can be in front of the ball, that if middle of your body is in line with the ball you are ok or if any part of your body is in line with the ball you are still OK ? I know for goals the whole ball has to cross the line. But what about offsides ?

In the present subject, if Leroux is considered offside if any part of her body goes in front of the ball, she is offside by her full right leg. If middle of the body has to be in line with the ball, she's OK. She's clearly in front of her teamate but the call is a lot tougher according to position vs the ball.

Thanks for responding and making me more knowledgeable about the rules

[Admin]

I don't know the goal.

Is that a shot or a pass.

Shot = goal

Pass = offside.

[navycyr]

I realize I was not perfectly clear in my quetion. Any way a workink colleague found the answer for me on wikipedia :

Offside position

The blue forward on the left of the diagram is in an offside position as he is in front of both the second-to-last defender (marked by the dotted line) and the ball. Note that this does not necessarily mean he is committing an offside offence; it only becomes an offence if the ball were to be played to him at this moment, whether or not he is in an offside position when he receives the ball, as he could receive the ball in an onside position but he'd still have committed an offside offence.

The blue forward in the penalty box of the diagram is not in an offside position, as he is behind the ball, despite the fact that he is in front of all but one of his opponents.A player is in an offside position if he is in his opponents' half of the field (pitch) and is closer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and all but zero or one of his opponents. Put another way, an offside position has three components, all of which must be satisfied for the player to be in the offside position: First, the player must be on the opposing team's half of the field. Second, the player must be in front of the ball. And third, there must be fewer than two opposing players between him and the opposing goal line, with the goalkeeper counting as an opposing player for these purposes.

The 2005 edition of the Laws of the Game included a new International Football Association Board decision that stated being "nearer to an opponent's goal line" meant that "any part of his head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent (the last opponent typically being the goalkeeper). The arms are not included in this definition."[1] This is taken to mean that any part of the attacking player named in this decision has to be past the part of the second-last defender closest to his goal line (excluding the arms) and past the part of the ball closest to the defenders' goal line.

Any part of the body in front of the ball except arms qualifying for offside, Leroux was offside by her full right leg.

However I can understand a referee running down the line might have missed it. It took me 5 or more replays moving almost picture by picture to make my mind. This is why I think in world cups there should be an official in the television booth reviewing goals and having the power to overturn on the field officials decisions. This way we would prevent situations like Henry use of the hand in France qualifying match, England refused goal and the missed offside for Argentina goal. Referee's job is not easy. Giving someone the opportunity to overturn their call when they have been obviously wrong on goals situations would, I think, alleviate pressure on them.

[Vic]

Correct. The second defender is moot if you are in front of the ball anyway.

I'm not a big fan of instant replay. I'm for technology if it's unobtrusive and keeps the flow of the game. For example, the chip ball and a goal line signal/light. But anything that means "go upstairs" like in the NHL and NFL forget it. Living with human error as part of the game is better. Yes it can cost you points (or even a world cup) but it doesn't bastardize the game into fragments.

And before technology is applied there are a few things that could improve the game more dramatically. Like 5 guys lining up to take penalties to decide a world championship. No technology could ever be that random or harsh.

[The Ref]

Sidney Leroux came back with a vengeance to score a pile on poor Switzerland. I guess she stopped looking at herself on the big screen and concentrated on her job. How about good old Mexico to beat Euro champion England!!!

[The Ref]

Quarter final games:

July 24th

Germany vs N.Korea

Sweden vs Colombia

July 25th

Mexico vs S.Korea

USA vs Nigeria

[amacpher]

Correct. The second defender is moot if you are in front of the ball anyway.

True, although she is ahead of the ball by no more than the length of her foot. Pretty damn close, so can't get too upset about the call.

[The Ref]

I think the German girls will need to double up on the sheenguards when they face the Nigerians.