SEATTLE — For about two minutes Friday afternoon, confusion spread throughout the stadium.
Fans inside Seattle’s Lumen Field – which was called Seattle Stadium during the World Cup – celebrated what they thought was the decisive second goal for the United States in their group stage match against Australia.
But the assistant referee raised his flag. The American players began running toward midfield, assuming the goal had been cleared.
Then came the review of VAR technology.
When the dust settles, FIFA She canceled the offside call The goal was awarded to 21-year-old Alex Freeman, giving the United States a 2-0 lead before halftime.
But there was no explanation as to why the goal was disallowed, and a replay on television appeared to reveal three different American players standing in offside positions when Serginho Dest took his shot. Social media immediately exploded, convinced that FIFA had got the decision wrong, with many users admitting they had no idea how the offside rule worked in football.
In fact, the freeze frame only told part of the story.
Under the Laws of the Game, simply standing in an offside position is not an offence. A player can remain “passive” as long as he does not touch the ball, interfere with the opponent, or take advantage of his position.
All three American players who appeared offside met this definition. They never played the ball, challenged an Australian defender or affected the sequence.
The only player that mattered was Freeman.
Using FIFA’s semi-automated offside technology, officials decided that the young American right-back was offside when Dest handled the ball. Freeman then attacked the loose deflection and headed it into the net.
Case closed.
The flag rose. VAR intervened. And FIFA did it right.
Freeman, the son of former Green Bay Packers star Antonio Freeman, got the World Cup moment he had dreamed of all his life.
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