>>Argentinean referee give off-sided goal in spite of linesman's insistent up-flag. I'm beginning thinking french trainer is right. He had said "Somebodies help Swiss team"
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>>I smell bad... Blatter's shield on the Swiss team.
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>I did not watch the game, but... This is from ESPN webpage, bold is mine:
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>"Referee Horacio Elizondo waved for play to continue after Xavier Margairaz's ball was deflected into Frei's path by a Korean defender and, although the lineman flagged for offside, the Argentinian official correctly over-ruled the decision and allowed the Swiss goal to stand."


That was not the correct call. Deflecting a ball (which the defender barely did) is not controlling it. A defender must control the ball to negate an offside call against an attacker who was in an offside position and subsequently participated in the play.

I applaud ESPN for broadcasting all the games (along with ABC), in high definition no less. But some of their announcers are pretty green when it comes to soccer/football. Making analogies to American sports that American viewers may be more familiar with -- "breaking the plane of the goal," for instance, which if it has any meaning at all in soccer, it is the opposite of what it means in American football -- is one thing. Where I lose some respect is when they get several calls a game wrong, even with the benefit of instant replay. Since we are talking about an offside call, one that particularly rankles me is the way they routinely describe the rule -- without going into any more helpful detail -- as "being behind the last defender." Uh, guys, the goalkeeper is a defender, too.