Alexander Isak was a shoulder length away from scoring twice at Anfield on his Premier League debut. The Swedish 22-year-old was responsible for a brilliant solo action when he appeared to bomb in 2-0 behind Alisson Becker in the Liverpool goal.
But on the replays afterwards, it could be seen that Isak was in front of his defender by the smallest possible margin and the goal was ruled out.
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– I didn’t realize how tight it was until I saw the replays, says Newcastle coach Eddie Howe about the situation.
– It’s hugely frustrating for us because it’s a potentially match-deciding decision.
Had this situation arisen in the Swedish elite youth series (U21 men and F19 women) during the autumn, it would not have been offside.
Because together with Italy and Holland, Sweden will experiment with a new offside rule in the two series during the rest of the season.
That is why Sweden is participating in the new offside experiment
The current offside rule states that it is enough for you to be offside if you have a part of your body that you can score with offside.
The new rule that is now to be tested reverses that. It is enough that you have a part of the body that you can score with onside for you to be onside.
It is the international football association Fifa and football’s rule-governing body, IFAB, that together developed the proposal in the hope of achieving a more attractive and goal-oriented football.
– It was actually Arsène Wenger who suggested this, says Per Widén, head of development at the Swedish Football Association SvFF.
He says that Sweden was asked early on if they wanted to participate.
– We were a little hesitant at first, but then we felt that okay, we are in on this. Especially after we got SEF (Swedish elite soccer) and EFD (Elite soccer women), because it is their series that are exposed to the experiment.
Why did you change?
– It felt fun to be involved in something from the beginning. Fifa sold it well. They have great confidence in Swedish football and they know that we have a good organisation.
Jonas Eriksson praises the experiment
Fifa will analyze all matches where the new rule is tested and compare with how it looked in the spring. They will then conduct long interviews with players, leaders, officials and referees who participated in the test.
Is there any gain in that for Swedish football?
– We feel proud that Fifa shows confidence in Swedish football and that we get to be involved in running a project like this. Should it then lead to more attractive football as Fifa has as a vision… that it should benefit the attacking players, I think everyone wants that.
Widén says it will be a challenge for the referees who will officiate in these series and other series that retain the existing rule.
– There is a difficulty in that, of course, but we have spoken to them and they are also positive, he says.
Jonas Eriksson, former top judge and now expert in SVT, thinks they should appoint a number of judges who only judge according to the new rule.
– Because if you have to judge on different days according to different rules, there is quite a big difference in how you have to think, so it will have an impact, he says.
But that is his only objection. Otherwise, he is positive about the experiment.
– The difference will be that they will release more offsides than before – and I think that’s good. There will be more goals and it’s fun to watch and everyone wants that.
– It will be fun to see what the assistant judges say, because it’s not like the verdicts are getting easier, it’s just as difficult as before.
– It is good to try to participate and test and develop.
