2026 World Cup - General Discussion & Non-USA teams thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
Every form of football I can think of has some sort of offside rule, with the exception of Aussie rules which is an awesome sport. Soccer is the only one I can think of in which the defense solely determines where the line is. An offensive player may be onside, but the defense can execute an offside trap to make that offensive player offside even if he never moves. I know the offside trap is part of the game but I'm sure someone smarter than me could come up with a fair solution.
Having played the game myself for many years, I think one simple change could make a big difference. Right now, if any part of the attacking player is past the defender, the attacker is deemed to be offsides.
I probably haven’t thought this potential rule change through completely. But my proposal is if any part of the attacking player is even with the defender, the attacker is deemed to be onsides, it could open up the game significantly.
I was thinking along those lines, or at least go with the body core instead of toenails. With the biometric harnesses that they wear at the top levels, I would think that would be doable.
Of all the suggested adjustments to the offsides rule proposed on this board I would think that this would be the only one with the slightest chance of being enacted. This is the epitome of the concept of “tweak.”
Don’t forget to enjoy the matches, the spectacle. That’s the whole point.
And it’s okay if you don’t enjoy soccer. I never watch hockey but there’s nothing specific about the sport and its rules that turn me off. It just doesn’t work for me. I don’t spend time trying to figure out why.
And it’s okay if you don’t enjoy soccer. I never watch hockey but there’s nothing specific about the sport and its rules that turn me off. It just doesn’t work for me. I don’t spend time trying to figure out why.
What you detail which I have placed in bold is an older version of the offside rule. About 10 years ago (give or take) the rule was modified to exclude any part of an offensive player that can not be used to score a goal.
The current IFAB Laws of the Game, for Law 11, state:
"1. Offside postion
It is not an offense to be in an offside position.
A player is in an offside position if:
- any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents' half (excluding the halfway line) and
- any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent
I don't think that your proposal would change things all that much. it probably would lead to a few more goals. The bigger issue with it, IMHO, is that it would be significantly more difficult for an AR to determine if a player was offsides or not. Even the aforementioned change that allowed an offensive player's hand or arm to be ahead of the second-to-the-last defender took a year or two for refs to get comfortable with. And while VAR could help with what you're proposing, 99.99% of the games played around the world are not played with VAR.
During his last season with Dortmund, Bundesliga commentators repeatedly said that his header game was weak. I think it was an agreed upon point to have something to criticize.
Defense gave Haaland forever to set himself. That was a screamer, though.
Early in the first half Brazil was breaking like crazy, full out sprints by 3-4 players. I guess it got to them. The first 15 or so minutes Brazil was on fire. I guess they couldn’t keep it up.