by SCIAG »
05 Jan 2019 17:25
2 world wars, 1 world cup 1) Penalty: I don't fully get to be honest... if we foul whilst they are fouling does it count? Like, for the pass just before Lukaku was in an offside position and the pass itself was offside as the foul came in... my head is hurting. But yeah they deserved the pen and the goal anyway.
What matters is which offence is committed first. As far as I can tell, the foul was committed before Fred touched the ball, so it is a penalty. A "pass" cannot be offside, only a player. It's not an offence to pass to someone in an offside position, it's an offence to interfere with play, interfere with an opponent, or gain an advantage having been in an offside position when a team mate was the last person to play the ball.
Sequence of events was like this:
1) Ball comes into Mata. Lukaku is in an offside position, but isn't interfering with play or an opponent so hasn't committed an offence.
2) Mata plays a pass to Fred, who is in an offside position.
3) Richards trips Mata. Foul.
4) Fred controls the ball and scores.
As Fred was offside, it is correct to disallow the goal. This means that there is no advantage following the foul, which happened before Fred interfered with play in an offside position. That means that it is a penalty.
Both decisions correct, and pretty much only possible due to VAR.