Question:
We had a situation in a match that raised a question that I (and other referees) could not definitively answer. Here it is:
Attacker evades goalkeeper (who goes to the ground) in a one-on-one and attacker proceeds unchallenged to the goal line where he stops the ball with his foot just outside the goal (it would have gone in for a goal if he did not stop it) and waits for the goalie to get up and try to recover before putting the ball into the goal. The action was clearly taunting and deserving of a caution. If given a yellow card for unsporting behavior, what is the appropriate restart? IFK from point of foul and goal does not count because foul stops play? Kick off (goal counts) after the caution. Another option?
USSF answer (November 26, 2007):
Without delving deeper into the matter of the attacking player’s sportsmanship, the correct restart, if the referee does indeed stop to caution the player for unsporting behavior — and has decided to do so before the ball is kicked — is an indirect free kick, taken from the place where the misconduct occurred. (Don’t forget the special circumstances described in Law 8.) And if the game is stopped for the misconduct, the goal certainly cannot be counted.
