Why was Weston McKennie’s goal for the USMNT against Panama ruled out?

The USMNT thought they had got off to a perfect start in Thursday’s Copa América 2024 group stage game against Panama when Weston McKennie fired the ball into the net in just the fourth minute at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. However, the Juventus midfielder’s strike was ruled out by referee Iván Barton for offside, following a VAR check.

Who was offside at McKennie’s goal?

The ball had arrived at McKennie’s feet near the penalty spot after being touched back to him by Tim Ream, who was judged to be the offending player. The veteran defender had reacted fastest after Chris Richards’ header from a Christian Pulisic free-kick had come back off the crossbar, but was just offside when Richards made contact with the ball.

Why Tim Ream was interfering with play

Had Ream not got involved and the ball landed directly at McKennie, his positioning would’ve been irrelevant as he wouldn’t have been interfering with play.

But as soon as he touched the ball, he was deemed active and called offside.

For a split second, replays of the goal from certain angles suggested a Panama defender may have actually headed the ball against his own crossbar rather than Richards, in which case Ream wouldn’t have been ruled offside. However, the fact the USMNT centre-back just got his head to the ball first meant the goal was rightly disallowed.

Later in the half, the controversy continued as Timothy Weah was sent off following an off-the-ball clash with an opponent. He was initially booked for the incident, but the sanction was upgraded to a red card after another VAR check.