I thought I'd put this in a new thread rather than go off-topic in one of the world cup threads. I'm enjoying watching soccer/football, and I understand how the offside rule works, but my question is: why is it in place? What bad thing is the offside rule preventing? Is it too easy to score without it? I suppose it would be easier to leak out for a goal on the through pass if you didn't have to worry about offside, but why not just eliminate the rule and put a greater onus on the defense to stay on their assignments, rather than have important goals allowed/disallowed based on subjective judgment of a player's position on the field during a pass, often decided by inches?
I know but on both sides... Must be rain of goals Not that bad for the audience.... ghastly for defensive gurus
It would certainly lead to higher scoring games. But no one out side of the US is asking for higher scoring games. It fundamentally changes how the game is played and I, for one, don't think it makes it any better. It's supposed to be hard to score. It's amazing to me that, during this particular World Cup, that anyone has a problem with scoring. This has been a World Cup full of goals.
For what it's worth, I don't mean to argue in favor of more goals scored. I would only argue that fewer rules are better. Just take the possibility for misjudgment out of the line judges' hands.
No Offside? Would mean players camping in front of the goal, in the corners, etc etc. Would look terrible.
It would make the game unwatchable with all the cherry picking. 10 men can reasonably defend 11 men in soccer. Think of what basketball would be like if 4 men could reasonably defend 5 men and has one cherry picking at all times. It would be so boring.
I'm not going to make a long post detailing various reasons, but i'll tell you i've played soccer at a high level for decades -- the game would be a complete mess without the offside rule.
Ah Nolen, I didn't notice who started the thread -- if you have any specific questions i'll do my best to answer them.
It would stretch out the field ridiculously. If there's no offside, I can just camp out my great forward near your goalie. Which would mean that my opponent would need to put at least two defenders camped out alongside my amazing forward. And it goes vice versa. So the game would no longer be battled in the midfield, but be built upon long passes to the goals, where players will be camping. I don't even think it would affect scoring that much. Defenses would just adjust to the new rule.
I'm obviously a newb, but just wondering- what stresses are placed on a defense when opposing players are camping in corners or cherry picking? Would assigning a man-to-man defense make for an ugly game? I can see how abiding by the offside rule forces an offense to execute with excellent timing. If the game were played without the rule and we lost that precision, would there be any gains in offensive creativity in other ways?
Aha- I can see how that would make an ugly game- instead of winning possession and fighting your way upfield, just camp your really great strikers and lob huge long passes to them, waiting for one of those opportunities to strike gold.
You have to remember that a (pro) soccer field is much larger than a football field -- a weird man-to-man defense would have to be used, which would change the game radically, but it wouldn't stop cherry-picking. As was mentioned 10 or even 9 men can defend another teams' attack so there would be at least 2 men dedicated to cherry-picking all the time. Weaker defenses often improve their performance by running an offside trap (my HSV team ran one successfully). Wiki: Pioneered in the early 20th century by Notts County[13] and later adopted by influential Argentine coach Osvaldo ZubeldÃa,[14] the offside trap is a defensive tactic designed to force the attacking team into an offside position. Moments before an attacking player is played a through ball, the last defender(s) move up field, isolating the attacker into an offside position. The execution requires careful timing by the defence and is considered a risk, since running up field against the direction of attack may leave the goal exposed.
But if you make the field an oval, it might take away the cherry-picking aspect. So, not only eliminate offsides, but make the field an oval shape. Oh, and hell, take away the no-hands allowed rule; it will make it simpler to officiate. So, everyone can use their hands or feet and, 'uh, add a goal post, too, those are cool. Then you'd have a real footy game.
This is pretty much it -- soccer would become a (American) football game with nothing but Hail Marys.
It'd make even more sense to question offsides in Hockey than in Soccer though. I get your question and seems like "KingCheetah" and the others have already answered it. Hope their answers helped.
