Sports have always been able to throw up confusing laws for fans to understand.
In baseball it’s the infield fly rule and in football it’s the pass interference rule. As these are sports that we have been familiar with and have watched for awhile, we have grown to understand these rules.
As the growth of soccer continues around the world, people are learning about the confusing rules soccer can throw at viewers.
With LSU Soccer set to begin its season on Aug. 18, I decided to take two of soccer’s more confusing rules and explain them to help people better understand a great sport.
The first confusing rule is the difference between a direct and indirect free kick.
Starting with direct free kicks, these are free kicks that can be shot directly on goal from the spot of the dead ball. These are normally given after a foul has occurred outside of the box. These also produce some of the best goals if they are from long range or are curved well into the top corner.
The other type of free kicks, indirect, are a little more complicated. An indirect free kick is most commonly given when the goalkeeper holds onto the ball for more than six seconds inside their box or picks the ball up after a deliberate pass back from a teammate using their feet.
These free kicks cannot be shot directly towards goal. The ball must be touched by two players to be counted as a goal. If you have seen viral soccer clips where everyone is standing on the goal line waiting to rush out, this is that type of free kick. The team taking the free kick will normally just have two people over the ball and one will tap the ball to the other who will try to score.
The second and more confusing rule is the offside rule. When I first started watching soccer, the offside rule was incredibly complicated and tough to understand.
A player is offsides when they are behind the last defender when the ball is passed to them. The timing of this is when the ball leaves the foot of the player passing to the other player who is offsides.
An attacking player cannot be offsides if they are in their own half of the field when the ball is played. This keeps defenders from playing as high up the field as possible to draw offsides. They also are protected from the offsides rule when the ball is last kicked by the other team.
An offsides call is indicated when the assistant referee on the sidelines raises their flag. They will then point to where the dead ball should be placed, and a free kick is given.
This hopefully helps clear some confusion on these rules. LSU Soccer begins its season on Aug. 18 and is expected to have one of the biggest crowds in the SEC. Hopefully by understanding these rules, that crowd will grow.