Ties......Yawn

[nkysoccerparent]

Frank, your question is a good one. IMO coaches shouldn't worry too much about players or fans feeling about the games, most of them have no idea about the quality of the competition. The ties and lack of wins can eventually wear on the players and that is when over scheduling can become problematic. I'm not saying Ryle has done this, I think they will be very prepared when the games start to matter.

 

Ties against Assumption, NDA, and NCC are a much better result than winning 5-0 against the 85th ranked team in the state. Believe me as a parent and fan I get it, 0-0 ties can be painful to watch. It's nice to see the ball go in the net and have your girls string together a few Ws. A tie always feels like a loss when you feel you have the superior team.

 

My assumption is Ryle isn't simply packing it in, they are struggling to break down very good defenses. If they can shutout the list of teams they've already played, with marginal improvement offensively they can have a special season. I think they will be a factor in the 9th region. Then again what do I know, I'm not watching their games. My opinion is based on looking at scores/opponents and several years following soccer.

[futbalfan]

So under the old method, if the player didn't end up being offside then you have an AR 20-30 yards out of position.

 

As far as the keeper being "distracted" causing an offside, that's not a situation where offside is called. It was actually a huge point of emphasis when I last took the ref course for youth soccer.

 

Having watched enough of the MLS plays this year that clearly hasn't changed.

 

The new method is by far more consistent with the rest of the rules. Nothing is signaled or indicated until the player actually does something which violates being offside. Which is how every other call in the game is.

 

I get that it's a change and people are adjusting but it is most certainly a change to further consistency.

 

I agree 100% with this and in the vast majority of the situations the guidance coming down from State and National instructors is this guidance. That said, it's recognized that there are situations where exceptions should be considered at the discretion of the CR and AR. For example, if the the offensive player in an offside position has a ball played forward where clearly the defensive player who will have a play on the ball just prior to the offensive player being considered "involved in play", is the goal keeper and which the ball played forward is NOT considered a shot on goal then it's acceptable to flag prior to the offensive player "being involved" by the newer interpretation. Of course, this example assumes no additional offensive player not in an offside position at time the ball is played could possibly make a legal play on the ball.

 

The reason for this last statement of course is to ensure that the following situation doesn't occur. The keeper made a play on the ball AND misplayed the ball such that the ball is now playable by a second offensive player trailing offensive player 1 who was not in an offside position at the time the ball. The reason being you do not want to take away the second offensive player's opportunity to make a legal play on the ball even the player 1 could possibly make a play.

 

Of course this guidance really is situational based on age, level of player and other typical decision factors and frankly the level of the referee crew. IMHO, common sense can't be ignored when applying LOTG. I've already seen a couple HS crews attempt to apply the new interpretation this season and have caused unnecessary hard contact between keepers and offensive players and post game discussions with the crew it was stated that "they were waiting to see if the keeper mishandled and the second offensive player could make a play on the ball" or "the keeper could have mishandled the ball causing it to go into the net" or "I viewed the original ball through as a shot on goal and not a pass". Technically, these are all valid legal reasons for not flagging a little early but some would argue for safety reasons and given the level of play it should have been called a little early in order to avoid what became in two incidents i witnessed an unnecessary injury to the keeper.

 

It's always a fine line between enforcement of LOTG and enforcing the spirit of the game and depending on the affect on a team and their supporters of the enforcement or lack of enforcement your view will be inherently be different.

[frankdracman23]

Frank, your question is a good one. IMO coaches shouldn't worry too much about players or fans feeling about the games, most of them have no idea about the quality of the competition. The ties and lack of wins can eventually wear on the players and that is when over scheduling can become problematic. I'm not saying Ryle has done this, I think they will be very prepared when the games start to matter.

 

Ties against Assumption, NDA, and NCC are a much better result than winning 5-0 against the 85th ranked team in the state. Believe me as a parent and fan I get it, 0-0 ties can be painful to watch. It's nice to see the ball go in the net and have your girls string together a few Ws. A tie always feels like a loss when you feel you have the superior team.

 

My assumption is Ryle isn't simply packing it in, they are struggling to break down very good defenses. If they can shutout the list of teams they've already played, with marginal improvement offensively they can have a special season. I think they will be a factor in the 9th region. Then again what do I know, I'm not watching their games. My opinion is based on looking at scores/opponents and several years following soccer.

 

That is an honest answer. I guess a coach can emphasize the positive......hey no one scored on us......and then try to eliminate the negative.....hey we need to score.

 

As a player I would think games would be more exciting than practice in a normal setting but I wonder if the players get to the mentality of "what's the point" with a lot of ties especially in non-district non-seeding games.

 

And that brings up the whole point of once playoffs start and games go to PKs then games are decided by something that does not occur in the regular season.