| After the final whistle blew for the 2010 World Cup | | | | Spanish attacker was the only member of his team |
| final, a referee colleague posed a curious question. He | | | | who could have played the ball if the Dutch defender |
| wondered whether Spain's goal-scorer in the final, | | | | missed his defensive header. However, to counter this |
| Andres Iniesta, should have been flagged for being | | | | argument, the offside offence is not a pre-emptive |
| offside in the phase of play before he received the | | | | law. FIFA and the IFAB did not design it to stop play if |
| pass from Cesc Fabregas that led to the goal. By that | | | | the assistant referee anticipates that a player would |
| reckoning, he felt that Iniesta committed an offside | | | | commit an offside offence. |
| offence before the other phase of play began - not | | | | By intercepting the ball, the Dutch defender made it |
| that Iniesta committed an offence from Fabregas' | | | | superfluous for the assistant referee to flag Iniesta. It is |
| pass. | | | | ironic that if he allowed the ball to go through to the |
| To be fair, Iniesta was in an offside position in the | | | | Spaniard, his side would likely have won an indirect |
| previous phase of play. His teammate crossed the ball | | | | free kick instead of conceding a goal. |
| in the area and it appeared headed to Iniesta, but for a | | | | Iniesta did not interfere with play, nor did he gain an |
| timely header by the Dutch defender. The question is | | | | advantage from being in the offside position previously. |
| whether the assistant referee should have flagged | | | | The only way he could have been called is if he |
| Iniesta when the ball appeared to be headed in his | | | | distracted the Dutch defender or prevented the |
| direction and no other Spanish player was near where | | | | defender from playing the ball. In other words, he |
| the ball was likely to be. | | | | would have committed an offside offence if he |
| There are two ways to ascertain that the non-call by | | | | interfered with the opponent, but that did not appear to |
| the second assistant was correct. First, Iniesta did not | | | | be the case at all. |
| commit an offence merely by standing in an offside | | | | Assistant referees must never anticipate a player |
| position. Secondly, the assistant referee would have | | | | committing an offside offence, unless he is the only |
| had to adopt a wait-and-see approach in any event. | | | | member of the team who can play the ball (and only if |
| To be the devil's advocate, one can argue that the | | | | he is attempting to play the ball). |