AR Review: The Playoffs
Except for the three assistant referees assigned to the final, the 2017 season is complete. For PRO ARs it has been a successful season as we analyze some of the regular season’s data.
As a group PRO assistant referees had a 96.9% level of accuracy in offside decision making. The Key Match Incident (KMI) offside accuracy rose from 78.8% in 2016 to 94.2% this season. These positive numbers can be attributed to PRO assistants commitment and dedication to prepare themselves for every match and then have a high work rate during those matches. Overall there were over 2,000 perceptions test taken during the season.
In this Week in Review we will look at some of the decision during the playoffs. There were a couple of errors in the early games, however fortunately, they did not affect the teams that moved on to the later rounds.
We also left some unfinished business with the offside decision in San Jose v Minnesota, we now have FIFA’s input on the decision.
Was there an offside infraction on Seattle’s first goal in Leg 2 versus Houston? – you decide – and finally, who had the Call of the Playoffs?
Answer – What Should You Do? San Jose v Minnesota
The final weekend of the regular season we presented this play in which
most of you responded
correctly. This is not offside.
This is a deliberate play and
goal should have resulted.
There is no challenge for the
ball by the attacker, yes he
runs, but he is many meters
away and the ball is not
within his playing distance, in
addition, the defender has
many options like
bringing the ball down, letting it go through, playing it away from goal, trapping it, etc. and none of them are influenced by the attacker, he chose to head it and did poorly. It meets all the concepts of deliberate play.