Ask me about being a FIFA-certified soccer referee

[ChuckyB]

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From the USSF Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game:

11.6 GAINING AN ADVANTAGE

"Gaining an advantage by being in an offside position"...also means being near enough the play to capitalize immediately on a defender's mistake.

This was precisely what I was referring to in my example. That's why my example should be considered offside and no goal. Always nice being told I'm 100 percent wrong though.

Stak

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Hey Stak:

The only problem with your example of:

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A player in an offside position is standing at the top of the penalty box. His teammate plays a ball to the opposite corner of the field and a defender runs over and attempts to clear it. <u>The defender takes a big swing and shanks the ball off the side of his foot, and it rolls to the offside player who scores.</u>

This goal won't stand. The player gained an advantage from being in his offisde position Even though the opposing team played the ball

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is:

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from USSF Advice to Referees on the Laws of the Game:

11.14 BECOMING "ONSIDE"
A player who is in an offside position at the moment the ball is played by a teammate can become "onside" in only four ways.
...
3. An opponent intentionally plays or gains possession of the ball.


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According to the USSF an opponent "intentionally" playing the ball negates any previous offside position. A "mistake" (from 11.6) would be open to interpretation, but I assume it involves a defender who didn't see the ball only to have it ring off his head...things like that.

In your example it sounds like the defender intended to play the ball and just screwed up. According to my reading that puts the attacker onside and it not a "mistake" in the sense the rules want to convey.