Conference Finals N.E. v FIRE, Sun 11/6 [R]

Shhhhhhhhhhhh. You're not doing youself any favors here.
You are wrong and apparently too stupid to realize it

When the ball was passed. the line is parallel to the center line. Yea the quality sucks but hey, its mlsnet.coms fault

Gee I hope that 220 lb. Reis is okay after slightly glancing that 120 lb. thug Thiago. What a crock!

Great post. There was definately more daylight between Joseph and the Fire defenders than there was between Segarus and NE's defenders.

Yeah, it was an interesting coincidence that tonight's Family Guy made prominent mention of the Emmys.

Don't know if this was posted already or not, but here are the post-match quotes. http://chicago.fire.mlsnet.com/MLS/...ntent_id=47662&vkey=pr_chf&fext=.jsp&team=chf

Watched the replay of the dissallowed goal again. He's off, but Jesus is that a late flag.

I think the flag went up late because the linesmen was waiting to see if Reis could collect it. If he's offside and doesn't touch it, play is supposed to continue. I think...

just watched a highlight of the disallowed goal, he was offside.

The laws of the game actually state:

It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position.
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

A player is not in an offside position if:
• he is in his own half of the field of play or
• he is level with the second last opponent or
• he is level with the last two opponents

Offence
A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the
ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of
the referee, involved in active play by:
• interfering with play or
• interfering with an opponent or
• gaining an advantage by being in that position

No Offence
There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from:
• a goal kick or
• a throw-in or
• a corner kick

Infringements/Sanctions
For any offside offence, the referee awards an indirect free kick to the
opposing team to be taken from the place where the infringement
occurred. * (see page 3)

The way this is actually enforced goes like this.

At the time the ball is touched by a teammate of the attacker the AR takes a "snapshot" of all players who are in the offisde position. Those players remain in an offside position until a teammate touches the ball, a defender deliberately posses and plays the ball or the ball goes out of play. Then if at anytime after that the player in an offside position is...
• interfering with play or
• interfering with an opponent or
• gaining an advantage by being in that position
He is deemed to have violated law XI. It makes no difference if the player is involved one minute later or one second later. The player started in an offside position and cannot do any of those 3 things at anytime during this phase of play or else he will be sanctioned. He must first reestablish himself as onside if he wants to get involved in play.

Another example of this violation is... Player A1 is in an offside position 10 yards onto his opponents half. The nearest defender B7 (ex. GK) is 25 yards from his opponent goal line on a corner. The ball is then cleared by the player A2. Player A1 runs back 5 yards onto his own half to collect the ball, but was in the offside position at the time the ball was played. The fact that A1 has come back onto his own half to collect this ball doesn't matter he is still punished for violating law XI.

If you're still confused read this:

http://dps.twiihosting.net/USSF/doc/content/doc_6_391.ppt

Not offside. ESPN ran a replay of the goal from above and behind the goal, and you can clearly see that Dempsey is behind the ball when Joseph plays it. The Patriots football lines are on the field, and it makes it very obvious.

This is a new mechanic that FIFA and USSF are making refs use, and it causes a lot of problems. Segares is in an offside position when the ball is played forward, and he moves to the ball. Previously, the flag would have gone up then, before Segares' shot. But we are now instructed to hold the flag until there's a movement by the defender, or an actual play on the ball by the offside attacker. When Segares makes his shot, he is not in an offside position, but since there was no other intervening play of the ball, he's still offside (he can't put himself back onside). And since the flag doesn't go up until Segares shoots, it looks like the AR is calling him offside at the time of the shot.

But he isn't. The call (a tough, but correct one) is based on when the ball is played by the Fire teammate, and Segares is in an offside position at that moment. The new mechanic with holding the flag comes into play, making this situation more difficult and contentious than it needed to be. So the call is based on Segares' position when the ball is played by his teammate, but the delayed flag is because of this new mechanic. The AR was following the book--the problem lies with FIFA and USSF.

F-it, see you all in Bridgeview and around here till then.

FWIW, I didn't see it on the broadcast, but at the game, it was pretty clear that Herron pushed the AR at least once, and put his hands on him at least one other time. After Herron pushed the AR, Vaughn sprinted over to that sideline and pulled out the red pretty quickly.

This is an excellent post, but I'll add that the problem's not necessarily just with FIFA and USSF. If more fans and perhaps players were better aware of this, then they wouldn't be so quick to jump at the refs - maybe.

had he not touched the ball it would of been rules ok no?

Just watched the replay again on SC and he was off. Regardless of when the AR puts the flag up, the correct call was made and that is what matters most. Looked to me like Herron pushed the AR, a big no no, and I saw Zach with his left, couldn't tell who it was at, but he was already being pulled away when he threw the punch.

I hope the league suspends Herron for at least half a season. Seriously.

Just out of curiosity, what's spitting on an opponent worth then?

Being suspended for MLS cup, but league management doesn't have the balls.

The boys played their hearts out and left everything on the field. Kudos to the "old-timers" (Curtin, CJ, Thorton) and to our crop of youngsters. They played a very positive game (unlike NE). In FIFA's last globl report, they called for more respect for the referees. After last nights debacle, its hard to accept this. The linesmen are RUINING the MLS and football in general. Twice in 3 games a last minute dramatic goal is called off! The linesman MUST be eliminated from off-sides rulings-it is the only way to save this beautiful game. None of the NE players gestured for the off-sides! (While the Fire players gestured for the offsides for the first goal.) Both goals should have counted. These refs clearly vioilated the letter and spirit of the recent FIFA rule changes. Did we really gain any advantage on the play? Segares was 40 yards from the ball when it was struck and ran 35 yards to score. In the last FIFA report Cruyff suggests that refs should think and act more like players- I think this would help our league and the beautiful game. FIFA wants to dramatically reduce the number of refs. We can start with last nights crew. In the meantime, our game is,sadly, in decline thanks to the men in black.

I hope the league suspends that linesman for being an anti-soccer jackass.