03-05-2021, 11:41 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-05-2021, 11:42 AM by Gerry Hatrick.)
I got this from a website quoting the International Football Association's Rulebook: Law 11: Offside offence
"A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save by any opponent) is not considered to have gained an advantage."
As DeepBlue says, it comes down to whether you judge Close's header as intentional. It looks to me as if he is stretching to head the ball so any contact would be intentional. When this is taken into account I'm not sure if 'when the ball is played' is relevant any more.
"A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save by any opponent) is not considered to have gained an advantage."
As DeepBlue says, it comes down to whether you judge Close's header as intentional. It looks to me as if he is stretching to head the ball so any contact would be intentional. When this is taken into account I'm not sure if 'when the ball is played' is relevant any more.