Even though it's fairly straightforward, soccer's offside rule can be confusing for casual fans. And even controversial at times.
The United States had two goals called back for offside in its 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday night. However, it also had a goal that was initially disallowed for offside ruled good in its group stage win over Australia thanks to FIFA's automatic review process in the World Cup.
Here's how the offside rule works and why the infraction isn't always immediately called during games.
Simply put, two players from the opposing team have to be between a player and the goal at the time the ball is played forward by a teammate. There are exceptions, but we'll get to those in a moment.
Wednesday night, Folarin Balogun had a goal ruled out in the first half because the only Bosnian player between him and the goal when Weston McKennie passed him the ball was goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj. Here's how close it was.
The United States had two goals called back for offside in its 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday night. However, it also had a goal that was initially disallowed for offside ruled good in its group stage win over Australia thanks to FIFA's automatic review process in the World Cup.
Here's how the offside rule works and why the infraction isn't always immediately called during games.
Simply put, two players from the opposing team have to be between a player and the goal at the time the ball is played forward by a teammate. There are exceptions, but we'll get to those in a moment.
Wednesday night, Folarin Balogun had a goal ruled out in the first half because the only Bosnian player between him and the goal when Weston McKennie passed him the ball was goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj. Here's how close it was.
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