3rd Degree


Rapid Kimura Offside Says USSF

July 21st, 2009 . 1:36 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

Not that it changes the result, but the USSF Referee Program says Kosuke Kimura was offside on his game winning goal last week.  You can read the whole ruling, it’s the bottom one in the article, but here’s the most important bit.

The running attacker is in an offside position at the time the ball is passed/played to him by his teammate. This attacker is clearly “nearer to his opponents’ goal line” than the second-to-last opponent at the time the ball is played. Furthermore, this offside positioned attacker “interferes with play” because he plays/touches the ball passed to him by a teammate. At the time the ball is passed, a sufficient amount of the offside positioned player’s body is past the second-to-last defender to indicate there is no benefit of doubt for the attack. As a result, the goal should be disallowed and an indirect free kick awarded to the defending team for an offside infraction.

At least that gives FCD fans an official ruling, although that’s little comfort for the lost point I’m sure.

Here’s the goal.







6 Comments

  1. Comment by dustin on July 21, 2009 4:31 PM

    buzz,

    what’s the point of FCD, or whomever, trying to get a ruling on that goal, if it will have no affect on the match result?

    seems like we could move into the 21st century and employ video review.

  2. Comment by JC on July 21, 2009 9:05 PM

    Dustin,

    The point is to have some modicum of justice. No we don’t get our points back, but it rightly calls out the officials lapse in judgment and lets our team know they lost through no fault of their own. That can give a team more confidence in their play.

  3. Comment by Nate on July 21, 2009 10:11 PM

    It seems as though it’s always FC Dallas that gets screwed. And it’s usually the Rapids who benefit from it. Every time.

  4. Comment by Adam on July 22, 2009 12:14 AM

    At least we know there is some sort of review process and some semblance of accountability.

  5. Comment by Buzz Carrick on July 22, 2009 2:26 AM

    Dustin, the USSF Referee Program is to assist referees. Every week they review marquee plays for lower level referee’s to look at and learn from.

    This was not an appeal or ruling sought by FCD. The USSF RP just chose it to show to it’s referees.

  6. Comment by Wray on July 22, 2009 1:39 PM

    I like the fact that they reviewed it no matter if we get the points or not…

    Now hopefully they will start to hold some of the poor excuses for referees we have in MLS accountable for their decisions…

    Sorry still steamed about the poor refereeing in the Seattle v Houston match and the performance of the MLS officials in the World Football Challenge…

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