It was, the defender spread his arms

and the ball hit an arm. The guidline for referees is "if the hands/arms are in an un-natural position and the ball makes contact" he doesn't actually have to move toward the ball. Just set himself up so that contact is more likely. Look at it this way, if he was defending on the line with the same stance and the ball struck his upper arm stopping it from going in, you'd scream pelanty along with the other 26+ thousand.

Posted By: mike_the_sphinx, Oct 30, 04:07:30