Question:
Offside or not?
Attacker A1 has the ball. Defender is about 7-10 yards from A1. Behind defender are attackers A2 and A3 about 3-4 yards in an offside position (no question about their offside position).
A1 attempts to play ball in direction of A2 and A3 but ends up kicking it directly to Defender, who gains control of the ball. Defender, for whatever reason, kicks the ball over the goal line.
We had half the room saying offside because when the ball was played his teammates were in an offside position.
Other half said no offside. Based on A2 or A3 not touching/playing the ball or that they did not interfere with the defender, and the defender clearly gained control…no offside and re-start corner kick.
USSF answer (January 23, 2010):
If it is clear to the referee (and the AR) that A2 and A3 did not interfere with either play or an opponent while in the offside position, and that the defender established possession of the ball (i. e. it was not a deflection), then there is no offside. It is not an offense to be in an offside position so there should be NO QUESTION that a flag could EVER go up simply because there are one or more attackers in an offside position. Restart with a corner kick.
