First may I congratulate Anthony Taylor on being selected to referee the final of the UEFA Nations League, France v Spain, together with his team of assistant referees.
Also congratulations to Stuart Attwell selected as VAR.
Anthony Taylor was not blamed for the controversy. Roberto Rossetti, the head of UEFA’s referees said Taylor’s decision was correct based on the current Law and its official interpretation. So what was it all about? Having not watched the game I can only go on what I have read
Kylian Mbappe, of France, was in an offside position when team mate, Theo Hernandez, passed the ball to him.
However, the Spanish defender, Eric Garcia, when trying to intercept the pass. got a slight touch on the ball. This put Mbappe onside who went on to score what was the winning goal.
Although it didn’t appear in the laws, we were taught as referees, that if a pass to an offside player is deflected or rebounded off a defender, it didn’t make any difference, he was still offside.
Then in 2016, the Law emphasised this in a roundabout way, saying that if the defending player played the ball but it still went through to the offside player, he should not be considered offside.
That was not a change to what we did. I remember refereeing an under 18 national cup semi-final, where late in extra time, one goalkeeper kicked the ball well into his opponents half.
An opposing defender tried to head the ball back, but only managed to knock it to an offside attacker, who went on to score, putting his team into the final.
It’s that difference between deflection/rebounding and playing, that Roberto Rossetti is taking to FIFA and IFAB.
He thought the goal in the Nations final, although correct, was against the spirit of the game, so is seeking some rewording. That I think will be difficult.
The spirit of the game in the LOTG, refers to situations when there is no written law. Let’s face it Garcia deliberately intervened to play the ball and Mbappe was not interfering with play until Garcia’s intervention.
By Dick Sawdon Smith
