It has been four years since I came to this land that calls football as soccer. This is the sport that I used to be really passionate about. I hope this world cup can reignite the passion for the world's - not including America-most popular game.
I was real glad that I didn't have to watch it alone but with another gal that has even greater passion for the game than me. If it were left up to me, I would miss the first match between South Africa and Mexico. My beauty sleep was more important. I would watch selective match based of my mood and of course favorite countries. Luckily, I wasn't alone. It was an exciting match, especially the second half with a great finishing by South Africa, followed by a great pass (but an easy goal) by Mexico.
But of course, the real lesson that I learned was the "real" meaning of football's most confusing term- offside.
The FIFA rule:
A player is in an offside position if: he is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent (at the time the ball is played).
All the hype about Mexico's first half "goal". Was it offside? If you said yes, then congratz, you really know the meaning of offside.
I -and many people for sure- thought it wasn't at first. See, we thought there was another South African player in front of Mexican Carlos Vela when his teammate dos Santos put the ball to the net. Well, the keyword is the second-last opponent. The S.African player that was at the goal was the last man, which usually is the keeper. But since the keeper move up, the keeper was the second-last opponent (simply put, they "switched" places), and since Vela is in front of the keeper, he was offside.
I used to have this scenario in my head and wanted to asked someone, but I think I didn't as I assume that it might not be offside as there were still players there to "defend" the goal post (sometimes there are 2 players at the goalpost to help the goalkeeper when there's a corner). I forgot about my assumption and logic till I saw the reply and began wondering why was it not offside. My friend agreed with the referee... then, I remembered my assumption.
Looking forward to the England vs USA match tmr. I want to see Gerrard in the field leading England. How I missed seeing him in action >.<
I can't really remember where I got the phrase (i better start remembering the sources) but it's so apt for LDR, no?
Read the "NOTE:..."
