SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Waccamaw vs. BE: Goal or Foul?

Yes my point, as I wrote while you were replying , is that I felt the keeper had a better than 50/50 chance for "control" and the fwd less the 50/50 give the point of impact. The fwd interfered with the keeper's ability to control the ball much more than the keeper interfered with the fwd ability to gain control of the ball.

Basically remove the each from the play and the keeper has control at that spot, the fwd is still chasing the ball and may get a touch there but not a controlling touch (IMHO). So who really had a better than 50/50 chance for control there (using my logic I will say keeper)

Of course, you could also make the argument that given her unique ability to use her hands in conjunction with the rest of her body, the keeper has a greater chance of controlling the ball in what would be an otherwise 50/50 situation; in this particular situation, I think a forward's job is as much to deny the keeper control of the ball (thereby denying the opportunity to punt it out and keeping her own team's scoring opportunities alive) as it is to actually control the ball herself. A ball loose in the box is as easily one player's as another's...a ball in the keeper's hands is undeniably "under control" and will end any scoring chance until another buildup is possible.

(And I am really chuckling at the idea of an official making a call based on "well, she was ABOUT to be in control if the other player hadn't challenged for it.")

I'd actually argue that the keeper's hands were a foot and a half or two from the ball and that given her approach and given a speedy attacker, the attacker could be more likely to get a foot on that ball and slip it around her. I doubt they'd score or even maintain control, but given the trajectories, it's more likely that the momentum and positioning of the striker made them more apt to make it to the ball than a keeper who is immobile and dropping to her knees to receive a ball.

Also, physics aside, I think I read somewhere that as soon as a goalkeeper gets even a finger on the ball, you back off (you being the attacker); the correlative then is that until the keeper gets a finger on the ball, it's not in their possession and free to challenge. It's not a written rule of course, but food for thought. I'll try to find it again.

Again, devil's advocate, but you could argue that the keeper made an inappropriate approach to the ball given the situation and thus made herself more of a roadblock than than necessary. Can you blame a striker who is merely trying to fairly win a 50/50 ball when a keeper comes in with the wrong technique or merely just "establishes" their position with no intent to actually challenge the ball? Allowing that on a regular basis could result in abuse by goalkeepers.