Offsides 101The beauty of soccer lies in its simplicity. There's no holding penalties, foul balls, or traveling calls. There are the occasional questionable fouls, but for the most part soccer is a relatively easy sport to enjoy and understand... With one exception of course: offside's. For a forward, offside's is your worst enemy preventing you from the game winning breakaway. For a defender, offside's is your best friend having your back when you mess up and helping you out when you need it the most. For a referee ,offside's is like taking care of a three year old toddler that you constantly have to watch, and no matter what you do will always throw a temper tantrum. And to a coach offside's is like your ex-wife that who you love one minute and then hate the next. Since offside's has many interpretations and calls can potentially impact the outcome of a game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmPMswnB5I4) it is important to have a clear understanding of what constitutes offside's in soccer. To make the game fair offside's prevents the opposing team from hanging out by the goal all game. Basically offside's occurs if an attacking player is in the opposing half and is behind the last defender and the ball. However, there are exceptions to this rule. For example a player may receive the ball behind the last defender as long as they were onsides before the ball was played. Also, offside's does not apply to throw-in's, meaning players may be behind the last defender while the ball is being thrown. Since offside's is based on timing and positioning determining whether a player is offside's can be a close call to make. All calls depend on the referee's judgment, and like any court ruling the final decision always ends up making one side angry. Unfortunately in the game of soccer there are no appeals and the final ruling always stands.
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