Towards the beginning of the first match of the World Cup between Qatar and Ecuador, the first goal was disallowed to the Ecuardians due to offside. Many fans couldn’t see how this could be?
When the free kick was played into the area, Ecuador defender Felix Torres challenged Qatar goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb. The ball fell to Michael Estrada, who headed it back to Torres for him to create the goal for Valencia.
However, when Torres got a touch on the ball (the direction it travels, forwards or backwards, is irrelevant) Estrada had one foot ahead of the second-last defensive player, who was Abdelkarim Hassan.
The review took longer than a regular offside because the offside VAR, Tomasz Listkiewicz, had to be certain that the ball did come off Torres. Without that touch, Estrada would not have been offside. Any subsequent touch of the gloves of Al-Sheeb would not be considered a “deliberate play” to reset the offside phase.
Santiago Leon is the Founder and CEO of the Sports Cast. He covers NFL, NBA, and world soccer. He’s also founder of sleon productions, which he specializes in technology and serves clients with solutions to make their business grow.
