But How Is That Offside?

But how is Gomez offside if he wasn't at the time of the shot and always had the ball between him and the goal? I'm hoping to get a copy of the game via bit torrent. But at the match not only did Gomez appear to be onside at the time the shot was taken but, IIRC, he was not in an offside position on the deflection from the defender. [Quote Link]

Getting it right: Match officials in Colorado got it right last week when they overturned Herculez Gomez's goal against Real Salt Lake - even if everyone else thought they got it wrong, including ESPN2's commentators.

Colorado's Jovan Kirovski fired a shot that goalkeeper Nick Rimando punched away. Kirovski's effort then bounced off an RSL defender before falling to Gomez, who was not in an offside position at the time of the shot but was by then standing alone in front of goal. He scored easily from that spot.

The referee's assistant immediately raised the flag, a seemingly bold call considering how quickly the ball had pinged around near goal. But he was absolutely correct, and there should have been little confusion, regardless of whether the final bounce came off an attacker or a defender. All that mattered at the moment was that Gomez had by then assumed an offside position.

This is from "Decision 2" of Law 11 (Offside) from the International F.A. Board: "Gaining an advantage by being in that position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position."