In the 84th minute of Saturday's Chivas USA at D.C. United match, a free kick by Chivas USA's Juan Pablo Garcia hit the crossbar and bounced down along the goal line out of the goal. Referee Marcel Yonan allowed play to continue. Multiple video replays showed exactly how close the ball was to going over the line, but none clearly showed the "whole of the ball" passing over the line as is required by the playing rules in order for the officials to award a goal.
The illustration from the FIFA Laws of the Game represents a guide to making such decisions. Garcia's shot resulted in a ball along the line which is most similar to that shown third ball from the left in the illustration and which is labeled "no goal."
FIFA has long recognized that decisions such as these are most difficult to make with the naked eye in real time and has recently experimented with the placement of a device inside of the ball that would electronically inform the referee that the whole of the ball had, indeed, crossed the line. Such an experiment was performed at the recent U-17 World Championship.
In the orchestration of free kicks, the referee must manage the wall and the assistant referee must line up with the second-to-last defender to properly judge offside. If the referee instructs the assistant referee to go to the goal line to serve as a "goal judge" (as done on penalty kicks) then the referee must adjust his position to be able to judge offside often reducing his ability to properly manage the wall. In the play described above, the assistant referee was correctly placed in line with the second to last defender. As a result, he was off the goal line some five or so yards and not able to make a definitive determination from that distance.
Joseph A. Machnik, PhD is the assistant to the deputy commissioner for on-field competition for Major League Soccer.
