Question:
I have been watching the way calling offsides has changed in the last 2 years. All of the instructors assure me that waiting until the ball is touched is almost always necessary before calling offsides. I watch many matches every week. It appears to me that if the rules the local and state guys are telling are true then it appears that we call offsides differently in the USA than they do any where else in the world. Is this the case??

USSF answer (April 8, 2008):
There are only two circumstances in which it might be necessary to wait for an attacker in an offside position to physically touch the ball:

1. The ball is played directly by a teammate to this attacker and the latter makes no move whatsoever as the ball approaches him. If he moves to touch the ball, offside offense. If he doesn’t move but allows the ball to hit him, offside offense. If he continues to make no move and the ball passes him by, no offside offense. If he moves to avoid contact with the ball, no offside offense.

2. The ball is played by a teammate into space.  It is pursued by the attacker in the offside position as well as by another teammate who was not in an offside position, but the referee/AR cannot determine which one will get to the ball first except by seeing who makes the first touch. If it is touched first by the attacker in an offside position, offside offense. If it is touched first by the teammate who was not in an offside position, no offside offense. In this case, if the referee/AR can decide who will clearly get to the ball first before either actually touches the ball, make the decision then about offside offense.

Neither of these two scenarios involves any attacker in an offside position also making any movement which interferes with an opponent.

This is the same position taken by other national associations. We are not certain why you would suggest that our referees would call it any differently from the rest of the world.…

Question:
The ball is out of play over the touch line, but barely.

As AR I raise my flag, but the referee does not see it. A couple of seconds later the referee whistles a foul and issues a caution for unsporting behavior. My flag is still up. Before the restart he sees the flag and elects to restart play with the throw-in.

Should the caution be rescinded, since technically the ball was out of play and the foul and caution “never occurred”?

(Actually, the referee never saw my flag and restarted with the free kick. But I got to thinking about the above possibility.)

USSF answer (April 7, 2008):
The referee’s decision to restart with the throw-in was (or would have been) correct. When the referee decides to go with the AR’s flag for a throw-in, then the “foul” and misconduct become simply misconduct, which can still be punished with a caution for unsporting behavior. The decision to go with the throw-in does not void punishment for the cautionable offense.…

Question:
in a recent game, the attacking team A shot into the box from a wide position, striking a player on Team B, the defending team(who was inside the box). the referee stopped play and awarded a free kick with the ball clearly placed inside the box approximately 5 yards from the top and 5 yards from the side of the box. the free kick was taken w/out any scoring. at halftime, we saw the referee and asked what infringement had occurred on the play-specifically asking if it had been an indirect foul such as dangerous play. the referee said that it was actually a handball inside the box but he did not deem the foul to be worthy of a penalty.
is a free kick inside the box a correct application of the laws of the game in this case?

USSF answer (April 7, 2008):
Another case of a referee with no courage. While the Laws of the Game allow referees plenty of discretion, allowing them to make some decisions based on the statement in the Laws that many infringements occur only “in the opinion of the referee,” this is not one of them.

Based on your statement that the ball struck the player (rather than the player striking the ball, which would be deliberately handling the ball), it would appear that there was no infringement at all. If the ball simply hits a player’s “hand” (anywhere on the arm from shoulder to finger tip), that is not a foul. There must be a conscious act by the player to manipulate (sorry for the unintended pun) the ball.

Timid referees like this one might consider giving up the game altogether, as they do no favor for referees who want to get it right.…

Question:
This applies to all USSF games.
I recently heard that once a goal is scored the Referee is to blow his whistle and point to the center spot.

What is the difference between a defensive free kick which requires to blow the whistle and point the direction and the Goal scored and blowing the whistle and pointing toward the center spot when you are in the last third of the of each end?

Blowing the whistle and Raising the arm and pointing to the center spot when in the penalty area gives the impression to the fans, coaches and managers that a defensive free kick has been awarded not a goal.

USSF answer (April 7, 2008):
Correct practice for the referee and lead assistant referee is outlined in the USSF publication “Guide to Procedures for Referees, Assistant Referees and Fourth Officials.” The guidance you seek for the referee’s signal reads:
“Points up field and, only when satisfied that the teams are disengaged and further attention on the goal area is not needed, backpedals toward center circle.”

A whistle would be required only if it is needed to get the attention of players — e. g., the ball is still being played despite the fact that the AR has signaled a successful goal.

The signal of pointing toward the halfway line is traditional throughout the world. If “fans, coaches and managers” in your area are confused, it might be because they have not followed play closely enough.

The Laws of the Game do not require a whistle in this situation — see above. You can find guidance on when to whistle in the Additional Instructions and Guidelines for Referees and Assistant Referees in the back of the full version of the Laws of the Game 2007/2008:

Use of whistle
The whistle is needed to:
• start play (1st, 2nd half), after a goal
• stop play
– for a free kick or penalty kick
– if match is suspended or terminated
– when a period of play has ended due to the expiration of time
• restart play at
– free kicks when the wall is ordered back the appropriate distance
– penalty kicks
• restart play after it has been stopped due to
– the issue of a yellow or red card for misconduct
– injury
– substitution
The whistle is NOT needed
• to stop play for:
– a goal kick, corner kick or throw-in
– a goal
• to restart play from
– a free kick, goal kick, corner kick, throw-in
A whistle which is used too frequently unnecessarily will have less impact when it is needed. When a discretionary whistle is needed to start play, the referee should clearly announce to the players that the restart may not occur until after that signal.