Gold Cup: USA 2, Canada 1

Probably about as fast as the average snail.

 

Wrong.

The call was correct.

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/lotg2006_e_1581.pdf
Page 65 in the book (34 on the PDF page numbers), diagram 12.

 

Diagram 12 states "Attacker B is penalised for playing the ball having previously been in an offside position."

Both Canadian attackers were onside (level) with Onyewu when the ball was played forward by their teammate. Therby, the touch from Onyewu doesn't matter. Both players were onside before the touch by the defender, and that is all that matters.

In effect, it acts in the same way as example 11. The player was onside when the shot was taken. It came back off the goalie and he scored on the rebound. Where he was when the ball came to him off the goalie doesn't matter, only that he was onside when the initial shot was taken.

If the attacker had previously been in an offside position, the flag would go up when he scored on the rebound.

 

My mistake on diagram 12.
However, diagram 11 isn't clear enough to make a ruling one way or the other.
Player C in that diagram never plays the ball. If player C, in an offside position when his teammate shoots, plays the ball off the rebound, is he offside or not? Diagram 11 doesn't say one way or another. In diagram 11, as drawn, player C wouldn't be offside because he never played the ball or interfered with the play.

 

In fact, diagram 10 is the example at which we should be looking.


Edit: Nevermind. It's not.

 

Fox Soccer Channel is getting ready to show a replay of the game.

 

Did Hume touch the ball before Onyewu? Boy, it's close. If you pause right when the ball is at Hume's head, Hutchinson is a half-step offside. But the question is did Hume touch it?

 

CONCACAF refs suck -- always have, always will. The guys from Cuba, Nicaragua, Jamaica at least have the excuse of not seeing games of international-caliber speed and intensity on a regular basis. How refs from the US, Mexico and Canada continue to balls things up and stay employed is beyond me.

Did Canada get hosed? No doubt about it. Welcome to the club, boys. ARs in this neck of the woods routinely get such calls wrong, and their compatriots in the center aren't much better. Thursday was just one of those exceedingly rare occasions where a blown call went in favor of the US.

Perhaps it's all just a case of instant karmic payback. Onstad and DeRosario should have (and would have, had this been a World Cup qualifier on the road) been sent off. The Bocanegra challenge on DeGuzman is debatable -- clearly a bookable offense, but it wasn't DOGSO and it's hard to divine SFP.

 

Player C, since he is in an offside position when the initial shot occurs, would be flagged if he scored on the rebound.

 

I just want to know, does this still mean Canada rises in the soccer rankings?

 

It should mean another boost in the rankings, since Canada beat Costa Rica, Haiti and Guatemala in competitive matches. They'll probably be in the mid-40's next time up from 54.

 

If only Canada could make the World Cup sometime in my lifetime :