This is the first blog which i write on Football my second religion.Without wasting much time on my footballl dedication or commitment i straight away come to the point.In the match Netherlands vs Italy Was Ruud Van Nistelrooy offside or not when he scored the first goal?
There has been a International debate in the football fraternity.The footballing world is divided into two on it.
Whole Italy is firm on the belief that Ruud was offside.According to them Panucci,the defender, fell and went off the field of play behind the byline after clashing with other players in the preceding goalmouth scramble and was lying injured on his back when the ball went into the net.So it should be offside.
It finally took an official statement from UEFA to prove the linesman right.
Austrian referees’ commission chairman Gerhard Kapl was quoted on the Austrian Web site www.sportal.at as saying the goal was correctly awarded.
“The injured player behind the goal counts as a player on the field and therefore it was not offside,” said Kapl.
But can an injured player who is lying knocked out outside the playing area can actually be called as an active player in the run of play?
The thing is how the rule has to interpreted.One version says as i heard ona news channel that a defender cant deliberately walk out of the play to make a striker offside.In simple words just imagine when the ball was about to be played to Ruud,Panucci actually walks out the field saying the striker is offside but in that case the striker is Onside. So by the same rule they say even if Panucci fell outside the field of play Ruud was still Onside.
But the debaters argue that Panucci didnt fell deliberately but was knocked down due to collision with the other striker.
The image below tells the actual situation.According to Rule,A player is in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than the ball and the second last opponent (usually the ‘last defender’ because the goalkeeper is normally closest to the goal line). A player level with the second to last opponent is not in an offside position.
In the picture its clear there are two italian players in front of Ruud.First Buffon and other Panucci.So in this way Rudd is clearly Onside.
But the other counterview can be the fact that Panucci actually is out of the play (he is knocked out god sake).So its the way you see the situation UEFA claims it to be legal.I tried to find lot about it.Even referred the Laws of the game but didnt find it.If someone reading has read that clause which actually validates UEFA claim please leave a comment.
For your reference these are the links i referred to.
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/laws_of_the_game_0708_10565.pdf
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/5.%20law%2011_554.pdf
One more valid point is that if linesman didnt see palucci fallen on ground then there was no point in giving ruud onside as he badly offside when he played if we forget Palucci.
So still in the end of the blog i am still myself not clear what was it actually.But at the end i would say whether you consider that a goal or not still Netherlands were a better team and have two more goals to boast of.
So guys enjoy EURO fever and i hope no more controversies creep in and Football emerges a clean winner.
