The mere fact that this provoked a new "position paper" illustrates how crazy the offside rule currently is. There is too much room for ambiguity. "Correct" is all boiling down to whether or not the referee thinks the behavior or lack thereof of the offside person had some impact on the play. This is hugely different than determining whether or not a person is in an offside position. The keeper and other players are faced with the choice of assuming the player will not be ruled offside and include him in all mental calculations and suffering the consequences of being poorly positioned, or assuming that he will be ruled offside and suffering the consequences of being poorly positioned. Of course, after the fact, they can always do a thorough video review of the best available evidence and issue a position paper on why it everything worked out as it should.
Great post, repped. Your 2nd paragraph in particular is a great statement. Does anyone involved with soccer really want or expect that players can make these sorts of decisions while trying to play the game? It is ridiculous.
That's not the way I interpret the guidance we have received. Not really. The players will complain based on what they THINK the law is; most of them have no idea what it really is. By and large, players have slowly over time stopped complaining about players in offside position who are WAY 'out of the play' because they know that isn't how the offside law works any more. But when you have a player standing somewhere in front of the frame of the goal, close enough to possibly be blocking the GK's view and sticking his foot out and trying to flick the ball as the teammate's shot goes by... if that isn't distracting, I don't know what is.
So what do you mean by this -- you think the GK considered it possible that the player might touch the ball and therefore that affected how the GK handled this situation? I personally did not feel that I could tell from the Youtube clip that the GK was focused only on the ball once the shot was taken. The video quality was not very good, and the camera didn't have everything in view all the time. There are other possibilities for the GK not complaining (although he might have complained after the clip ended, for all we know)... one is that he is a stand-up guy and didn't want to make excuses. Some players, although it is rare, actually behave in a professional ethical sporting manner. Also, this GK is a rookie and I'd say less likely to mouth off than some of the MLS veterans who seem to have a sense of entitlement regarding dissent. On top of that, this GK comes from a pretty high-class family background and although I have never met him (ran line for one of his games in college) it wouldn't surprise me if he is a well-mannered human being and not prone to outbursts during soccer matches. One last thing -- if the GK didn't know or think that the player was offside, he would have seen no reason to complain about it!
I'm saying that once a keeper sees an up attacker lining to crack one your focus is entirely on the ball - almost like tunnel vision. You asked for a keeper's opinion and I gave you one.
Yes, correct. The USSF wants the players to play as if the ref will properly call the game. That was my point above. They do not want the referees to calibrate the effect of prior poor officiating into their calls, especially at the professional level.
Ok, thanks for explaining. I've played a fair amount in goal myself, although a field player at heart. If I see a player taking a shot but I also see an opponent somewhere in/near the path of the ball -- *I* am going to notice. What if the player gets a foot on the ball as it goes by, hitting it to your left while you have already committed by diving right to stop the shot? Oops. So do you hold off on the dive until seeing whether the player will touch the ball or not? If so, then you risk waiting too long and not being able to save the shot if/when the player does not touch it. These are the types of things that I feel many goalkeepers will be dealing with.