Why was Folarin Balogun’s goal disallowed in the USMNT’s World Cup opener?
An offside call during Christian Pulisic’s run wiped away a beautiful sequence that had Los Angeles Stadium roaring.
Folarin Balogun found the back of the net for what appeared to be the USMNT’s second goal against Paraguay in the 2026 World Cup, but the strike was quickly disallowed by the referee.
The goal was not wiped away due to a fault by Balogun, but rather because of a previous pass to Christian Pulisic, who had strayed offside during the buildup to the play.
How does the offside rule work?
During a soccer match, you will see many moves which are either stopped or reviewed for offside. It happens a lot and only really becomes an issue if the move ends in a goal or a penalty. It is not an offence in itself just for a player to be in an offside position.
Basically, the offside rule aims to prevent players from gaining an unfair advantage by positioning themselves too close to the opponent’s goal. If an attacking player is closer to the rival goalkeeper than any member of the rival team, the attacking player will be judged to be offside - but only when the ball is played forward. Offside calls are signaled to the referee by the linesman, who will raise his flag if a player is illegally positioned.
Law 11 states: “A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate is only penalized on becoming involved in active play by:
- interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or
- interfering with an opponent by:
- preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or
- challenging an opponent for the ball or
- clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or
- making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball
If an offside offence occurs, the referee awards an indirect free kick where the offence occurred, including if it is in the player’s own half of the field of play.
There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball from a corner-kick, throw-in or goal-kick.
A smart defense will move forward in a line, in unison, to leave attackers in advanced positions “offside”. This is known as the offside trap. However, all it takes is one player to play an opponent onside, so if one member of the defense doesn’t move with the rest when the ball is played, they could leave an opponent onside and with a free run at goal.
That’s more or less how it works in black and white, but of course mistakes can be made...
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