Even though it’s fairly straightforward, soccer’s offside rule can be confusing for casual fans. And even controversial at times.
The United States had two goals called back for offside in its 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday night. However, it also had a goal that was initially disallowed for offside ruled good in its group stage win over Australia thanks to FIFA’s automatic review process in the World Cup.
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On Thursday night, Croatia had a potential game-tying goal disallowed because of an offside violation late in stoppage time of its 2-1 loss to Portugal.
Here’s how the offside rule works and why the infraction isn’t always immediately called during games.
What is the offside rule?
Simply put, two players from the opposing team have to be between a player and the goal at the time the ball is played forward by a teammate. There are exceptions, but we’ll get to those in a moment.
Wednesday night, Folarin Balogun had a goal ruled out in the first half because the only Bosnian player between him and the goal when Weston McKennie passed him the ball was goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj. Here’s how close it was.
Per the rules of soccer, the offside rule only applies to the parts of the body that can legally score a goal. If Balogun’s feet and midsection had been even with or in front of the next-to-last Bosnian player but his arm was behind that defender, he would have been considered onside because you cannot score a goal with your arm or hand.
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The offside rule is not in effect when there is a throw-in, corner kick or goal kick. During those set pieces, a player can stray offsides and not get flagged if he or she directly receives the ball off the play. Additionally, a player cannot be considered offside when standing in his or her own team’s half of the field, and offside can be negated if the ball last touched a defender before being played by the player in an offside position.
A player standing offside who is not part of the play is also not considered offside. For example, a player could be standing on the far left side of the field in an offside position while a goal is scored from the right side of the field. As long as that player did not interfere with the play, offside is not in play.
How are offside calls handled by officials?
You might have noticed that assistant referees don’t always immediately raise the flag for a player being offside. In those circumstances, the assistant referees are acting as if a goal-scoring opportunity is imminent and are letting the play evolve.
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They have the ability to do that because all offside calls are automatically reviewed by the semi-automatic offside technology employed in every match.
When Alex Freeman was flagged for being offside during the United States’ 2-0 win over Australia, his goal was initially disallowed. However, the call was automatically reviewed, and it showed that Freeman did, in fact, have two defenders between himself and the goal when Sergiño Dest kicked the ball into the penalty box.
The semi-automated VAR process involves a series of cameras used to draw straight lines across the field to determine where players are standing at the time the ball is played forward. That allows officials to determine— sometimes within millimeters — if they believe an offside infraction took place.
