Question:
I was refereeing a game when a player strayed offside, AR had the flag up, the ball went into the hands of the keeper, i yelled “come on guys”, i waved for the AR to take his flag down, goalkeeper rolls the ball about 2 feet away from himself and walks back do make a run-up, when the opposing team’s attacker comes and kicks the ball into the goal. I allow the goal, but the AR stays where he is. The defending team’s players ran towards me yelling, and after conferring with my AR i allow the goal. Was this correct by me?
USSF answer (January 19, 2011):
By the time the matter of offside came up (as a protest by the likely offending team), you had already decided that the goalkeeper had established possession. When the goalkeeper put the ball down, all bets were off. The Laws of the Game were not written to compensate for the mistakes of players. Life is hard, score the goal.
