OFFSIDE.

People always think offside is only when the player is beyond the last defender. that is wrong, that is a simplified meaning, because most of the time the goalie will still be there. You need to have at least 2 opponents between the receiving player and the goal line to be onside. In that case, only Sun Jihai is in between Radzinski and the goal line. so it is offside.

Another issue to look at, is Radzinski in front of the passing player when the ball is played. If Radzinski is behind, then it is onside. From the video, it looks like Radzinski is in front of the player when the ball is passed to him. so it is still an offside.

Sun was the last opponent, that means the second last opponent would be behind him, so its pretty obvious radzinski is nearer to the goal line than the boal and that opponent no?





here's a wiki quote because i think this is the best way to explain the second part of what i said, with diagrams and simple wordings

The simplest way to explain offside, is to meet this 2 criteria:
1) the player is offside when there is less than 2 opponents between that player and the goal line.
2) the player is nearer to the goal line than the ball.

of course, the offside rule only applies to the opponent's half, and it wont be offside if the ball is received from goal kick, throw ins or cornerkicks.

This post has been edited by pyroboy1911: Dec 7 2010, 04:06 PM

2 city players, but that doesnt change the fact that there is only ONE player between Radzinski and goal line, and that ONE player is Sun Jihai. you need TWO to be onside.

and from my view, this situation doesnt tally with wiki's 2nd pic because the ball is further than the goal line that Radzinski was. the wiki pic shows the ball (white) nearer to the goal line than the blue striker in the box. In Radzinski's case, he is nearer to the goal line compare to the ball.

This post has been edited by pyroboy1911: Dec 7 2010, 04:12 PM

The simplest way to explain offside, is to meet this 2 criteria:
1) the player is offside when there is less than 2 opponents between that player and the goal line.
2) the player is nearer to the goal line than the ball.

Just stick to this 2 guide and you will never go wrong of course, it is tough for linesman to follow this rule every single time and the situation only presents itself for a split second (the moment the ball is passed). Easy for us to decide with replay and so on, but for them its difficult.

come to think of it, the rule might not be the same back then, it could have been tweaked since then. im not too sure, i think back then i dont even know what an offside is yet

you are offside when your head, body or leg is in an offside position when compared against an opponent's LAST BODY PART. For example, check out Chicharito's goal against France in the World Cup:



as you can see, his whole body is beyond the 2nd last man's head and body (the last man would be the goalie). However, that defender's leg is the measure of the offside line as shown by the darkened area of the pitch. That defender's leg rendered Chicharito ONSIDE. A very good decision by the linesman, in fact i think the World Cup 2010 tournament has one of the best offside/onside decisions i've ever seen in the recent times (amidst the terrible linesman call over the past few years).

So when those hard-to-make offside decisions involves only the leg goes beyond the offside line, it is because the leg of the striker goes beyond the defender's last body part (leg, head or body). Hand's are not counted.

This post has been edited by pyroboy1911: Dec 7 2010, 09:03 PM

great piece of skill before the dive though, reminds me of Denilson who used to play for Betis in La Liga