Tonight there was a play where the Chicago keeper kicked a long high ball down field (not from a GK). At the moment when he kicked the ball, it is likely that Chicago winger Banner was in an offsides position. The ball came down to a NE player (who was under no pressure from anyone). He ended up heading the ball back toward his own goal. I'm guessing he didn't MEAN to do this, even though the result would have looked exactly the same if he had meant to do it. This wasn't a case of a defender jumping and being too short to fully stop the forward movement of the ball or whatever. It came down right onto his head and he headed it backwards. Banner saw the ball come to him and went for it obviously, and was called for offsides. Should the player have been called offsides? Does the backpass to an offsides positioned player have to be "intentional" in any way? I know that if a defender tried to block a pass, and only managed to deflect it, that doesn't count when it comes to offsides rules, but this seems like a misplay, not an attempted block of a pass.
Like you said you weren't sure, maybe the referee wasn't sure. It's a matter of interpretation if he headed it back to his keeper on purpose and the AR thought so than no offside. If it was an accidental header back to the keeper than it is offside. I'd have to see it and it's not up on MLS replay thingie yet but it's about interpretation it sounds like.
I watched the replay just now and it was clearly a mistake by the defender, not intentional, so I guess the call was right.
Hey! Get it right. It's "OFFSIDE" not "offsides." Really gets my goat to hear referees refer to it incorrectly.
This sounds a lot like the situation in 2009 Week In Review Week 23. There, USSF wrote: The fact that the play on the ball was intentional means it's not a deflection. The fact that it was a misplay or poor play doesn't matter.. The defender played the ball, not the other way around. Here's WIR 2009/23: http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Referee-Programs/2009/08/2009-Referee-Week-in-Review-Week-23.aspx
This was brought up in another thread today I argued it there too, on the basis that the offensive player gained an advantage from being in that position. FIFA doesn't agree with the USSFs interpretation...or whoevers interpretation it is who wrote that WiR.
Time? Banner was only called offside once, at 82:00, so I am going to assume this is when it occurred. I'll have to wait for MatchDay Live to make the game available. Jair Marrufo called Dykstra for holding the ball over 6 seconds at 38;00, and once again the announcers were clueless. Brian Dunseth did get on the right track, Brad Feldman never did.
I agree it seems pretty clear that the defender did not intend to head the ball backward. It was a very long kick by the goalkeeper, and it is the Jubalani ball, after all. I felt this language was very confusing at the time, and still do. Almost certainly this was a misplay; I would agree there was no pressure from an opponent. I would prefer to say that the play was not controlled, and thus the offside-positioned player should be called offside. Certainly making a controlled contact with such a long ball is not easy. The player jumped at the last second in order to make contact with it, as he misjudged his run and overran the ball a bit. We don't get to see where Banner was when Dykstra made his kick, athough I do think it is very likely he was in an offside position. How can the announcers be so clueless about the offside rule?
When in doubt as an AR...stop at the goal line and have the CR come over to you. Let them decide if the player meant to head the ball that direction or it was an accident.