Holding and DOGSO/SPA

When a holding offence is the reason for a DOGSO/SPA decision, when we take our snap shot becomes very important. If it is a kicking offence, the foul is just a moment. But with a holding offence, the foul can continue for a second or even more. By the time the attacker is on the ground, they have been slowed down significantly by the hold. 

As a result, if we take our mental snap shot as the attacker is going down, then the defenders around the attacker may appear a lot closer than they were when the holding offence actually happened. This means that if the referee's mental snap shot of the tactical offence is even a split scond too late, then the situation may look like a SPA. If the referee's mental snap shot of the tactical offence is at the actual moment of the foul, then the situation may look like a DOGSO.

Especially when the referee faces a counterattack, they are too focused on catching up with play or on the ball and its vicinity. They fail to scan the field to understand where the defenders are when the foul actually occurs. 

Undercut

Sometimes it can be difficult to know the difference between a player jumping at an opponent and a player being undercut. 

One of the ways to tell the difference includes observing who initiates contact. If it is a jumping-at offence, the player in the air is moving toward the opponent. If it is an undercut, you will notice that the player who is on the bottom moving their body to the opponent.

In this video below, you will see a defender slighly moves his body to the lower half of the attacker's body. The force is relatively small. But when a body is in the air, it does not take much force for it to lose balance. This is an example of an undercut offence.

Don't let your guard down

Sometimes we are so focused while the ball is in play. As soon as the ball is out of play, we let our guard down. But bad things can happen even when the ball is out of play.

Watch the clip below. The game is 0-2 with about 20 minutes left. The white team that is down by 2 goals will score. Now they are only a goal behind. What do you think will happen? An eager attacker will try to put the ball back in play quickly. He would go grab the ball out of the goal. We have all seen it. The eager attacker and a frustrated GK isn't a good combination. Keep your eyes on this priority area.

To be fair, on this game, there was an injured player who was ready to come back to the game waiting by the AR2 touchline. But what do you think is the priority? The game was already stopped. 

Alignment

Some offside decision are tight. Some are not. Regardless, if you are not properly aligned with the offside line, you may incorrectly give or not give offside.

In the video below, the attacker was onside by 1.2 meters (about 4 feet). The AR was misaligned by 1.0 meter (about 3 feet). But because the AR was ahead of the offside line, it looks like the attacker was offside. Consequently, the AR raised his flag and the referee called offside. Had the flag stayed down, the attacker would have had a 1v1 situation against the GK.

Remain focused. Use your agility, speed, and anticipation to remain in line with the offside line.

Who initiated contact?

When we talk about considerations, we often do so to discuss if an offence deserved a red card or a yellow card. We seldom talk about considerations to determine if a foul has occured? We sometimes take it for granted that we know what a foul is. But do we really?

Also, when a player is hurt after they fouled an opponent, we are sometimes misled to believe that the player who is hurt received a foul. We cannot use "who is more hurt?" as a consideration to determine who fouled.

In the video below, a player who is hurt more actually initiated contact. The black team defender fairly plays the ball and receives contact from the white attacker. The referee, unfortunately, gave a free kick for the white attacking team. 

"Who initiated contact?" is an important consideration for us to use to determine who fouled.