Question:
I have a question for you that I came across while reviewing “Laws of the Game”. In Law 17 “The Corner Kick” it says “In the event of any other infringement (other than the ones listed): the kick is to be retaken”. Does that mean that if a foul is committed by defense before the ball is touched, goes into the goal or goes out of bounds the corner kick is to be retaken?
USSF answer (September 2, 2009):
No, that is not accurate. All possibilities for infringements AFTER the ball is in play were covered in the preceding bullet points. This section refers to infringements that occur before the ball has been kicked and moved into play. That would be misconduct by one team or the other.
The same principle applies to all restarts: If something untoward occurs before the ball has been put into play and (1) the ball is subsequently put into play before the referee can stop it or (2) the ball is not put into play, nothing can change the original restart, which must be completed in order for the game to continue.
