The question is whether you stop counting as a second defender when you leave the pitch

Here's an example - two strikers are running in against a defender and the keeper

Defender makes a desperate sliding tackle on striker A and misses. Defender's momentum carries him off the pitch. Striker A has only the keeper to beat but doesn't fancy the angle, so passes to striker B, who slots home. If the defender ceases to count for offside purposes once he's slid off, striker B would be offside. That can't be right, which tells you that a player does not cease to count as a defender for the offside rule just because he's left the pitch

Posted By: Old Git, Jun 10, 14:37:08