Water bottle goal: correct or not? You might think: a what? Here’s the match situation that happened recently in the game between Twente and Zwolle. Jason Cabral, a FC Twente player, receives the ball on the right side. He dribbles to the edge of the penalty area and curves the ball towards the goal. In the picture below you see the moment he’s going the shoot. Watch the circle right before the goal-line. Yes, it’s a water bottle from the goalie. How would you try to avoid externa materials being on the football pitch? A water bottle lying low on the ground would be difficult to spot by the assistant…

The Belgian FA has published two video’s on their website and gives an explanation later what the outcome should be. But you should jugde yourself first in these Denying goalscoring opportunity case studies at KV Oostende – KAA Gent. During the first situation Lasse Nielsen (blue) is challenging Knowledge Muson (blue). Please ask yourself the following questions: Was there a foul? If so, where was the foul? Was it inside or outside the box? (Please decide before watching the replay.) Was the defender careless, reckless or using excessive force? Was the blue attacker about to score a goal? So would you send the defender of for denying a goal-scoring opportunity? Have you read…

Last weekend showed us a great case study for offside. Second last defender is the key word for it. Have you seen the game Chelsea vs Bournemouth? Check out Murray’s goal for Bournemouth. Was the referee correct to allow the goal? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dENrBBb41do At offside situations you usually look at the last person in a kit of a certain football club, because the goalie (with his different outfit) is on his line which makes one of the backline players the so-called second last defender. But it gets difficult if a goalie leaves is goalline. As assistant referee you need to make sure you focus on the second last defender. I have…

The best way to get a good feeling for the new interpretation of the offside rule is seeing video examples of it. Here’s Liverpool’s offside goal or was it correctly allowed? In the 2015-2016 Premier League game between Bournemouth, Benteke makes his first goal for Liverpool. He was not in an offside position, but should the goal have counted? Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said: “It is a clear offside under the new rules.” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers adds in the Guardian: “The offside ruling was changed again and it adds confusion”. What is your call? For that judge yourself first based on seeing the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7EprNkDqNc What are your thoughts…

Yellow card for selfie with Zidane. Can you believe that? Modern technology creates quite interesting game situations. I can understand the referee gives a yellow card for that. You don’t want players to walk around with selfie sticks on your field of play. What happened?A former international player of the United Arab Emirates could not wait until the final whistle of the game. During the game he thought he needed to make a selfie with Zinedine Zidane, who was playing in the opposing team. My first thought was: that’s quite a funny thing to do. After the game the UAE player might have been too late with Zidane doing PR-related things and…