This might be a stupid question, but I've been thinking about it for a few days and for some reason I just couldn't figure out the right answer. Consider this hypothetical situation: If player A is in behind the last defender with his teammate, Player B, in possession further away from the byline, and Player B passes the ball away from the opposing goal, could Player A come back and touch the ball? Player A starts in an offside position, but since the pass is a square ball, I'm not sure if he's actually offside or not. Can somebody help me out?
The moment the ball is kicked is when the determination is made for offsides. So if player A is offsides when the ball is kicked he is offsides no matter wher he recieves the ball. In your senario yes player a is offsides.
Ignore the direction of the pass and the direction the player runs. They are irrelevant. If the player is in offside position when the ball is last touched by a teammate, and then gets involved in the play, the player is penalized for offside. That's all. Doesn't matter if the pass is forward, back or square, or the player runs forward, back or square. All that matters is the player's position at the time of that last touch. In your scenario, player A is in offside position when the ball is passed by his teammate. So, when he goes to get the ball, he is called for offside. Flag goes up.
I thought you couldn't be offside if the ball isn't passed forward. If not, how is this onside? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJHN1mN5SCg
This situation causes the most complaints from those who don't know well the offside law. Coming back to the ball from an offside position is still an infraction that needs to be called...even if that player moves back into his own half of the field to receive the ball.