Soccer fans, somebody please explain "offsides" to me

[Superfly]

oh, and what's "icing the puck" or do I have my sports mixed up?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

1. The offside rule in soccer basically is about whether or not the

other side has players between you and the goalkeeper. If they don't, you're offside.

[chimpymustgo]

6. It there are no players between you and the goalkeeper when the

ball is kicked forward (by the offense) past the midway line.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

10. Yeah, I was probably oversimplifying.

[chenGOD]

14. Nothing to do with the halfway line.

eom

[Blue_Chill]

29. Not "kicked forward" either

The ball has to move towards the player who is behind the defense for the refs to actually call it.

[soleft]

7. this is my take

An offensive player cannot be in front of the ball and the defensive player.

You cant't have this-

GOALIE



OFFENSIVE PLAYER


DEFENSIVE PLAYER


BALL

[bif]

11. Can you have this...

You breakaway with the ball and you get ahead of the defenseman. Can you kick a goal or are you offsides?

[chenGOD]

13. Of course you can score.

[soleft]

15. As long as the ball is in front of you you're ok

I think this is basically to prevent the offense from stationing someone down field behind the defenders.

[bif]

16. Thanks

This has always confused. Thanks for clarifying.

[Cush]

2. Icing the puck is hockey

http://news.soccer.com/htmldocs/redcard/redcard7.html

Offsides occurs when a player is closer to the opponent's goal than 2 of the other team's players (goalkeeper included) when the ball is played to him/her. A player can only be offsides in the attacking half of the field. Offsides occurs at the point in which the ball is played to the player in an offsides position, not when he/she receives it. If the player is evenly positioned with the 2nd to last player (remember that the GK counts as the last player) then he/she is considered onsides and good to go to goal.


Offsides exceptions: -Throw ins - You cannot be called offsides in your defending half of the field, regardless of the other team's positioning : Goalkicks - Corner Kicks (until someone touches it) - You can't be called offsides if you are behind the ball : in other words, if one of your teammates is dribbling ahead of you, then you can't be offsides if he/she passes the ball to you as long as you were onsides when the ball was passed to him/her.

[pnb]

3. pretty simple

hockey and soccer both have offsides. In hockey, the puck has to enter a teams offensive zone (cross the blue line) before any offensive player enters that zone, while is soccer an offensive player can't receive a ball past the defense of the opposing team.

Icing in hockey is when a player moves the puck from his own team's end of the ice past the opposing teams blue line (except while short-handed) in such a manner that no other player can touch the puck.

Hope that helps.

[GOPisEvil]

4. OK here goes...

1. Offsides in soccer - An offensive player may not be behind all the defensive players (aside from the goalie) when a pass is made. Once the pass has been made, the offensive player is free to get behind the defenders though.

2. Icing the puck in hockey - A player in his own defensive zone may not play the puck across his the goal line in his offensive end. Note: this is only for even-strength situations. When a team is a player or more down due to penalties, they may ice the puck legally.

[Cush]

5. Icing the Puck Rule

http://www.playbetterhockey.com/rules.asp

Icing - Icing is an aspect of the game that can be both advantageous and disadvantageous to your team. Icing is when a team member dumps the puck in to the opposing zone from the defensive side of the blue line (your half of the ice). If your line is tired, and has been on the ice for too long in your zone and can't make it back to the bench to get a fresh line out -- it's probably okay to dump the puck into the other end and risk an icing call. If it does qualify as icing (one of the other players touching the puck before it crosses the opposing goal line will prevent icing), there will be a stoppage of play and your team will get a chance to change their lines. On the other hand, if your team is rushing in to the opposing zone and you're plan on dumping the puck in their zone, make sure you cross the blue line first, or the refs will call "icing" and you'll be forced to face off back in your own zone. Not a good idea when you're on a rush! Also, goalies, help your teammates by letting them know the other team has iced the puck -- hold your glove hand up in the air if one of the refs is calling icing.

[chenGOD]

8. welllll.

In soccer, offside is when you are on offense and you pass the ball forward to a teammate and there are fewer than 2 opposing players between him and the opposing goal. He is also not offside if the opposing players are level with the teammate recieving the ball.

A player can be in an offside position and not be offside, if he is not interfering with play. That is, if you pass the ball to someone who is on the left side of the field and he is onside, a player who is offside on the right side of the field will not be called for an infraction of the law.


Icing the puck is in hockey, and I'll leave that to the hockey people, since I don't know the rule well enough to define it.I only know it when I see it.

Hope that helped. If not, might I suggest visiting this link: http://www.fifa.com/en/game/laws.html

[Redbear]

9. The practical effect of which is that

a player can't get behind the defense and just wait for a long pass. She has to stay at least even with the defenders before the ball can be passed to her.

"Icing the puck" in hockey refers to a defender shooting the puck all the way down the ice to the other end.

[markus]

12. You know, this is one reason US thinks soccer is "boring"

If there was a "fast break" in soccer, scoring would be higher, and Americans wouldn't fall asleep facedown in their cheeze doodles and Miller Lite.

(Writing as an American who, while I rather like the odd bag of Cheese Doodles, does not drink Miller Lite and rather likes watching soccer).

I don't see why you ought not have a one-on-one between a single or pair of offensive players and the goalie.

[bif]

17. I agree 100%

change the rules. Improve the game.

[Red_Storm]

18. "change the rules. Improve the game"

Why? It's the most popular sport in the world........there is no need to change the rules, the game is great as it is.......

[bif]

19. I feel any sport can be improved.

Just like getting rid of the red line in hockey. That would be a great change--eliminate the two line pass and speed up the game.

[Red_Storm]

23. well.............

i'm not informed enough about hockey to give an opinion but as far as soccer there is simply no need for new rule changes, I can't think of any that would improve the game, besides I don't think there is a need to improve the game...As far as the offside rules, it can not and should not be changed, by having a player standing in front of a goal keeper all game long waiting to score ( that would happen without an offside rule) that would destroy the essence of soccer , which is...... play build up, timing of passes and runs by players and defending.....soccer is not just about scoring goals, there is alot more that goes on leading up to the goal.......

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

20. I think you've missed the point . . . .

As I understand it, the very purpose of the off-sides rule is to enable teams to push their defenders forward to participate in the offensive flow of the game. Without an "offsides" rule, a team would simply leave its strikers right in front of the opposing team's goal, waiting for an opportunity (e.g., following a long pass) to score. Given this siutation, the other team would necessarily be required, simply as a matter of prudence, to leave its defenders back in front of its goal.

As a consequence, rather than the "fast-breaks" you envision -- which you do see in soccer, by -- play would tend to "clog up" in front of each team's goal, with very little being accomplished. In short, the off-sides rule is intended to open up offensive play, not close it down.

Something of an analog is the "three-section violation" in basketball. By prohibiting the team on offense from posting players in the lane, right in front of the basket, the intent is to open up play.

[Blue_Chill]

30. Yes but the rule has backfired

The defense now uses designed plays to draw offsides calls. For example (we will use U.S. and Italy), if the US has stolen the ball on their end and are moving forward Italian defenders will run toward mid field forcing U.S. forwards to stop their mad dash.

It slows offensive plays.

A better way to do it would be to enable a player to be "offsides" if the ball is in his own half of the field. This will stop the goal camping. Once the ball crosses mid field however the enitre side regardless of the defenses positioning would be open.

That would in my opinion better serve the spirit of the original.

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

31. I think . . . .

. . . you make a very good point!

[kixot]

34. Flawed example.

"if the US has stolen the ball on their end and are moving forward Italian defenders will run toward mid field forcing U.S. forwards to stop their mad dash."

In this case the offsides rule would not apply. A player is allowed to run past the defenders if he already has the ball. Offsides would be if he were already past the defenders before gaining control of the ball in the first place.

[kixot]

33. Speak for yourself.

This citizen loves soccer as his favorite sport. I think Americans are just sore to play a game in which they aren't the world champs for fear of ruffling our national pride.

[ps1074]

21. Here is what is offside

At the moment of the pass forward, there need to be at least one player from the defending side between the offensive player and the goalkeeper.

Soccer is the best sport on earth :) I love soccer :)

[EarlG]

22. Offsides in soccer

Here's a way of looking at it:

First, forget about the goalkeeper because he doesn't affect the offside rule.

Okay, you know how in football these days they have a yellow line stretching across the field which indicates where the first down marker is?

Imagine a soccer field, and imagine that yellow line being permanently attached to the rearmost defensive player. As he moves up and down the field, the line moves with him. If another player on his team moves behind him, the line becomes attached to that player instead. It's all about the defender who is furthest back, and the invisible line attached to him that stretches across the field from side to side.

The purpose of the invisible line is to prevent the attacking team from having a bunch of players hanging around in the goal mouth waiting for a long pass. Because that would get pretty boring after a while.

Here's how it works in practice: you can RUN the ball through the invisible line, but you can't stand behind it and have someone pass the ball to you.

BUT: the reason fast breaks still work is that you CAN accept a pass which goes through the invisible line, PROVIDING you were standing in front of the line when the ball was kicked. So a lot of attacking plays in soccer are all about timing - the attacking players have to time their runs perfectly so that when the ball is passed across the line, they can zip past the defenders and run on to it.

(A good defense can stop this most of the time, which is why soccer is often perceived as being boring. However, IMHO it's part of the beauty of the game - it's all about the build-up. When the attackers finally DO synchronize perfectly and break through for a goal, it's a more impressive feat than most people realize).

The defenders can often use the offside rule to their advantage. A strong defensive tactic that a lot of teams use is to keep their back four players in line with one another across the field at all times. The four players move up and down the field together. When the attacking team moves towards their goal, the defenders all move up the field in unison, trying to "trap" attacking players behind the line for a foul. This is known as the "offside trap." You have to have good defenders who are in tune with one another because it can be a risky tactic if the attacking team times their play well - but it can be a lot better than having three attackers moving towards your goal and one helpless defender standing back, trying to stop them.

One last note, it can't be offside if the defending team passes the ball back towards their own goal. In that case there could be nine attacking players standing behind the last defender and it wouldn't matter.

I hope that was sufficiently confusing :) It's not an easy rule to explain without diagrams.

EG

[Oggy]

24. The goal keeper does count

as the rule is two defensive players between the forward ( offence for you guy's ) and the goal when the pass is made. Therefore if the goalie has made a mad dash forward this would come into play.

You can not be offside when you are behind the ball when the pass is made. ( i.e. back pass ).

[EarlG]

26. Well, yes

But in my defense, that scenario isn't typical. I guess I was trying to make the explanation as understandable as possible (and clearly failed miserably).

I'm an ex-pat Brit by the way :hi:

Did you ever happen to see that skit on The Fast Show where they tried to explain the offside rule? It's kinda like this thread :)

http://coma.tky.hut.fi/~horse/files/fastshow_scripts/roger.htm

7, 8 and 9 in particular...

[underpants]

28. Simpler explanation:ManU is NEVER offsides

everyone else depends on their relations with ManU at that time.

:bouncE:

[ajacobson]

25. The tricky part

is that the offsides is determined at the point when the ball leaves the originating passer, not when the ball is received by the forward player. Difficult to see and call sometimes.

I love soccer and I hate the fact that the WUSA collapsed. Maybe a successor league can get established quickly. The players association now own the trademarks and other legal residue of the WUSA.

[Red_Storm]

27. It's a shame that the WUSA collapsed so quickly.............

but on the bright side the MLS is still around and now that Freddy Adu will play in the league maybe it'll improve T.V. ratings and attendance (ridiculous to think that a 14 year old should have that responsibility)

[ajacobson]

32. Did you see the press conference

Freddy is WAY mature for a 14 year old, both physically and emotionally. I'm really glad that he's going to start off in the MLS. I'm sure Man U or Chelsea would have snapped him up in a moment if not for the FIFA/UEFA restrictions.

[Red_Storm]

36. You are right but.............

the kid is only 14 years old !!!!........It is good that he is staying in the U.S. but as he continues to mature and gain international experience with the national team, the inevitable will happen....alot of the big European clubs will come after him (Man U already has), so the question is.....when will he leave the MLS and head to Europe.....I think he'll probably head to Europe in 2 years, even if it means playing in the youth system of a top European team at first.......

[Tredge]

35. Spitballing

As a lifelong soccer goalie, given the (let me be diplomatic) A.D.D. of some of the defenders I've played behind, if offsides was removed I'd get shell-shock by the end of the first half.

What I was thinking...does offsides have to do with the size of the field/rink/court in the sport?

1) Soccer - large. Offsides is tied to the middle of the field (with the defenders moving it back and forth).

2) Hockey - medium. Offsides is closer to the goal (the blue line).

3) Basketball - small. No offsides (I'm right, right? Not a fan, I admit).

I'm no authority, this is only observation. For the record I believe:

1) Offsides in soccer is necessary to keep all fielders in the attack zone and not constantly have them spread all over the field. It doesn't look like it makes the game more exciting on the face of it, but indirectly it does.

2) The red line in hockey - since the NHL likes experimenting they might try removing it for a season. With goalies getting goals-against-averages of 2.00 and less, more and more, it's starting to make the game duller. I like watching a good goalie duel, but many would rather watch offense, and interest in NHL hockey is waning.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

37. Offsides in soccer

You can't past the opposite team's last defender-

It's designed so that one person can't just stand next to the goalpost and score off a kicker that can kick the whole length of the field. That would be kinda cheap.