Sneaky: New York Red Bulls Pull Off Old ‘Trick Corner’ Routine To Score Against Chicago Fire (Video)

Chris Wright

27th, August 2015

5 Comments

ny-red-bulls-corner

Not that it mattered in the end, but New York Red Bulls adopted the dark arts by pulling off the old ‘fake corner kick’ routine before scoring an equaliser against Chicago Fire in MLS last night.

The ruse began when winger Lloyd Sam went over to place the ball in the quadrant and, unbeknownst to the Fire defence, surruptitiously rolled the ball just over the line.

Sam’s accomplice Sacha Kljestan then ran over to take the kick and, after getting the okay from the linesman, proceeded to dribble the ball infield before setting up centre-back Ronald Zubar for a sitter inside the six-year box to make it 2-2…

There were protestations, but as Fire went on to score a 73rd-minute winner, the incident was rendered somewhat moot by the end of the evening.

However, the Professional Referee Organisation (PRO) were keen to state after the game that the goal should not have been allowed to stand, not because the devious shenanigans were unsportsmanlike but because Sam touched the ball twice during the set-up.

The technical details of the infringement were explained on the MLS website:

Citing Law 17 of the FIFA Laws of the Game which addresses corner kicks (page 53), a PRO official informed MLSsoccer.com on Wednesday night that the act of Sam touching the ball more than once is an offence punishable with an indirect free kick for the Fire.

The FIFA Law states that “if the kicker touches the ball again before it has touched another player, an indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team.”

There you go kids. Bend the rules, don’t break ’em.

Posted in MLS, Newsnow, Videos

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5 Comments

  1. James Taylor says:

    Anyone knows that you can’t take a free-kick or corner to yourself (that’s the difference between a free-kick and an indirect free-kick!). That the officials and players didn’t realise this is astounding!

  2. AB says:

    James, they missed “it” (Sam accidentally touching the ball twice) because the linesman wasn’t expecting the trick play. Columbia tried this a year ago against Ivory Coast – and the refs, similarly caught off guard, whistled it off. If Sam had subtly kicked the ball a few inches (but just once), then Kljestan’s direct play would have been completely legal.

    • Bob says:

      But he could say all the touches before the last touch were setting the ball. Also, you can’t pass to yourself from an indirect free kick.

  3. maria says:

    James Taylor lolwut? Indirect means you can’t score directly from it. Any free-kick cannot be touched by the same player twice in succession.

    AB – Do you mean the District of Columbia or British Columbia? Not sure they have football teams though. Colombia maybe?

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