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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAMK7EMKMx4>>>>
>>>>Interesting. I'm not a soccer scholar, but that goal by Forest (I think it was the third goal shown in the series) - why wasn't the Forest player offside? I thought if you took a pass while you were past all the opposing players, that it was offside. There must be part of the rule I'm not familiar with.
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>>>One part that sometimes confuses people is that offside is determined at the moment the ball is struck, not when it is received. So if a player on the attacking team is onside when a teammate kicks the ball, then sprints past the defender to get to it, that's OK. It's hard to tell from the video whether that was the case on this play.
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>>But if you look at the last L goal, there are 2 blue shirts nearer the goal than red. Admitedly it's a shot at goal, not a pass, so, your being a ref, is that offside or what?
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>I think it would be if they participated in the action. If it was a pass, definetely an offside. If the ball touched any of them before entering the goal, also an offside.
Exactly. Participation is the key issue. An attacker can be in an offside position but if they do not directly participate in the play, it's not an infraction. This does not include just being a visual distraction to a defender -- shame on the defender in that case.
