I don't think Mike Randolph's foul on Brian Mullan early in the second half of Sunday's Houston-Galaxy game was a penalty kick. It may have been a foul - there was contact - but whatever happened seemed to have happened outside the penalty area.
When you consider that as well as the timing - something like 10 seconds after play resumed - I thought it was a bit of a gift.
Houston captain Wade Barrett didn't quite see it that way.
4 comments:
I was sitting down in that corner
last night. Randolf bumped him
going into the box which wasn't
that bad, but after they crossed
the line he reached out and grabed
the Houston players shorts and
almost pulled them off. That's
what the linesman saw and they
pretty much had no choice to call
for the PK.
He pulled the shorts BEFORE he got in the box - he just didn't let go and the guy didn't fall down until 2 steps inside the box. I thought you were supposed to make the call where the infraction first occurred - which was outside the box.
From the April 30, 2007 USSF Memo called "When Fouls Continue"...
In general, the referee should determine the location of the foul based on what gives the greater benefit to the player who was fouled. FIFA has specifically endorsed this principle in one of its “Questions and Answers on the Laws of the Game “ (12.31) which states that a penalty kick is the correct restart if a player begins holding an opponent outside the player’s penalty area and continues this action inside his penalty area.
If you look at the highlights of the game on MLSnet, Randolph clearly grabs his shorts, but it still seems to be outside the box. He more or less let go as Mullan continued - the whole reason Mullan was able to fall is because Randolph wasn't holding him any more.
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