A Suspicion Of Offside

In the League Cup second leg semi-final between Manchester United and Manchester City, HKRef believes there may be a hint of offside for the first goal. Interestingly, none of the sports articles or football reviews about this match mentioned anything suggesting the possibility of offside.

Nevertheless, this incident may prove to be a useful exercise to review and consider Law 11_Offside.


In this first sequence of 4 freeze frames (camera view from the halfway line), Giggs (red) is at the top of the frame and outside the penalty area. Carrick (red) is on the 6 yard line, and Nani (red) is on the 18 yard line. As Giggs plays the ball to Nani, and as Nani pushes the ball forward, it is important to consider Carrick's position relative to the second-last defender (blue).

In this second sequence of 5 freeze frames (camera view from behind the goal), it is important to consider when Nani played the ball and whether Carrick is still in an offside position.






Thereafter, Carrick plays the ball to Paul Scholes (who appears near the 18 yard line) and his shot goes in for the match's first goal.

For Consideration: was Carrick offside?
Did Carrick gain an advantage from being in that position? By considering this incident carefully and rationally (something that is difficult to do during actual match time), HKRef hopes that referees can reflect more and perhaps improve their awareness of similar incidents in future matches.

Reference
Law 11_Offside