FIFA World Cup 2026

[Gregmal]

Never been a big soccer fan, but still trying to watch, and holy shit this offsides stuff in soccer is the stupidest rule ever. Ruining an otherwise exciting Portugal Croatia game. Like you really can’t have a step on the other teams defender? No wonder every game is 1-0 or 2-1. How lame 

Edited 7 hours ago by Gregmal

[LC]

Problem is if you get rid of offsides everyone just keeps a player out there to cherry pick and it screws up the whole game. 

[Gregmal]

Idk, hard to see how you screw up a game more than we just saw. That was pitiful. Totally ruined what could've been a classic. If someone wants to hang back, put a defender on em, plain and simple. Such a dumb rule. 

 

[Spekulatius]

1 hour ago, LC said:

Problem is if you get rid of offsides everyone just keeps a player out there to cherry pick and it screws up the whole game. 

You can’t get rid of the offside as it screws ups the game or more specifically how it’s played in the space. The cameras available now have made the judgment extremely precise and that alone makes the offsite trap a major gamechanger. You see now the defense teams relying on this swarming in perfect line formation. The same thing was done before the cameras were available but it was risky for defending team to rely on it, because the line referee may not be able to determine close offsite cases and let the play continue or give the goal.

 

Its useless to complain and remember before we had many cases of questionable decision like Maradonas god‘s hand or the Wembley goal that wasn’t.

 

So Croatia had bad luck, but the referee clearly made the right decision.

[Paarslaars]

4 hours ago, LC said:

Problem is if you get rid of offsides everyone just keeps a player out there to cherry pick and it screws up the whole game. 

 

4 hours ago, Gregmal said:

If someone wants to hang back, put a defender on em, plain and simple.

 

 

Won't work Greg, the pitch is so large that any strong/fast striker can easily pass a defender in a one on one situation when given so much space. Additionally most goalies also don't have great odds stopping a shot from a striker in the box when there are no defenders blocking...

 

In reality coaches will put two defenders on him. The result will be that their offensive capabilities reduce a bit by playing 8v9 and you're even more likely to end up with 0-0 games. It's a numbers game... 2v1 in the back greatly increases your defensive capabilities but 8v9 in front only mildly decreases offensive capabilities.

 

Have a look at indoor football, which does not have an offside rule. However the game is 5v5 on a smaller pitch with smaller goals. Here a striker that stays in front does not have a large advantage going 1v1 on a defender. However that strategy isn't even used because if you do this, the opposing team will attack 4v3, making position loss and getting countered unlikely. Also scoring here 4v3 is quite easy...

 

(I played outdoor football from 6y - 20y and indoor from 18y - 38y)

 

I understand the frustration though, some leniency in the rules would be better but how? Gotta draw a line somewhere... However you could for instance make a rule that says that passing the ball with the upper body/head does not count for the offside rule. This would have allowed the Croatian goal and many other goals where it's borderline, without creating situations that ruin the game.

Edited 2 hours ago by Paarslaars

[Gregmal]

Honestly I have no idea. I’ve never really cared for soccer despite generally liking all sports. I’ve tried watching the WC, and just keep thinking a lot of this stuff is just so stupid. Shouldn’t there be penalties for all the guys who get breathed on and act as though they got shot out of a cannon? Then you see these great made for tv moments like today, and on some bs technicalities Ronaldo is denied a goal and then one of the most clutch goals I’ve ever seen is called off?