{"id":2481,"date":"2026-06-19T22:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481"},"modified":"2026-06-19T22:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:11:17","slug":"what-happened-on-usmnts-confusing-second-goal-against-australia-and-why-it-wasnt-offside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481","title":{"rendered":"What happened on USMNT&#8217;s confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn&#8217;t offside"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>SEATTLE \u2014 For nearly two minutes Friday afternoon, confusion spread across the stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2479\">Marshawn Lynch works as photographer for USA vs Australia match<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fans inside Seattle\u2019s Lumen Field \u2014 called Seattle Stadium during the World Cup \u2014 all celebrated what they thought was a crucial second goal for the United States in their Group D match against Australia.<\/p>\n<p>The assistant referee, however, had his flag raised. U.S. players began jogging back toward midfield assuming the goal had been wiped away.<\/p>\n<p>Then came the VAR review.<\/p>\n<p>When the dust settled, FIFA overturned the offside call and awarded the goal to 21-year-old Alex Freeman, giving the United States a commanding 2-0 lead just before halftime.<\/p>\n<p>But there was no explanation for why the goal was overturned, and the freeze-frame replay on television appeared to reveal three different American players standing in offside positions when Sergi\u00f1o Dest struck his shot. <\/p>\n<p>Social media immediately erupted, convinced FIFA had gotten the decision wrong, with many users admitting that they had no idea how the offsides rule in soccer worked.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2477\">USMNT rides early goals to win over Australia to clinch knockout round berth<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In reality, the freeze-frame only told part of the story.<\/p>\n<p>Under the Laws of the Game, simply standing in an offside position is not an offense. A player can remain \u201cpassive\u201d as long as he does not touch the ball, interfere with an opponent or gain an advantage from his position.<\/p>\n<p>All three U.S. players who appeared offside met that definition. They never played the ball, challenged an Australian defender or impacted the sequence.<\/p>\n<p>The only player who mattered was Freeman.<\/p>\n<p>Using FIFA\u2019s semi-automated offside technology, officials determined the young American right back was onside when Dest made contact with the ball. Freeman then attacked the loose deflection and headed it into the net.<\/p>\n<p>Case closed.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The flag went up. VAR stepped in. FIFA got it right.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/strong><\/h2>\n<div>\n<p><strong>California Post News<\/strong>: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn<br \/><strong>California Post Sports<\/strong> Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X<br \/><strong>California Post  <\/strong>Opinion <br \/><strong>California Post Newsletters<\/strong>: Sign up here!<br \/><strong>California Post App<\/strong>: Download here!<br \/><strong>Home delivery<\/strong>: Sign up here!<br \/><strong>Page Six Hollywood<\/strong>: Sign up here!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>And Freeman, the son of former Green Bay Packers star Antonio Freeman, got the World Cup moment he had dreamed about his entire life.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2475\">Obama gives glowing tribute to Clintons, Bushes \u2014 but only passing thanks to Joe and Jill Biden<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Freeman\u2019s goal for the United States against Australia sparked confusion after an offside flag, but FIFA\u2019s VAR review got the call right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What happened on USMNT&#039;s confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn&#039;t offside - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What happened on USMNT&#039;s confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn&#039;t offside - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alex Freeman\u2019s goal for the United States against Australia sparked confusion after an offside flag, but FIFA\u2019s VAR review got the call right.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T22:11:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"headline\":\"What happened on USMNT&#8217;s confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn&#8217;t offside\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T22:11:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/1d6ce09e4910ce2631affd06d61dfd7a.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Soccer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481\",\"name\":\"What happened on USMNT's confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn't offside - Metro Transit Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/1d6ce09e4910ce2631affd06d61dfd7a.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T22:11:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/1d6ce09e4910ce2631affd06d61dfd7a.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/1d6ce09e4910ce2631affd06d61dfd7a.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=2481#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What happened on USMNT&#8217;s confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn&#8217;t offside\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Metro Transit Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What happened on USMNT's confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn't offside - Metro Transit Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What happened on USMNT's confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn't offside - Metro Transit Review","og_description":"Alex Freeman\u2019s goal for the United States against Australia sparked confusion after an offside flag, but FIFA\u2019s VAR review got the call right.","og_url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481","og_site_name":"Metro Transit Review","article_published_time":"2026-06-19T22:11:17+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"headline":"What happened on USMNT&#8217;s confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn&#8217;t offside","datePublished":"2026-06-19T22:11:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481"},"wordCount":435,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1d6ce09e4910ce2631affd06d61dfd7a.webp","articleSection":["Soccer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481","name":"What happened on USMNT's confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn't offside - Metro Transit Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1d6ce09e4910ce2631affd06d61dfd7a.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-19T22:11:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1d6ce09e4910ce2631affd06d61dfd7a.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1d6ce09e4910ce2631affd06d61dfd7a.webp","width":1200,"height":799},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2481#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What happened on USMNT&#8217;s confusing second goal against Australia \u2014 and why it wasn&#8217;t offside"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/","name":"Metro Transit Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/metrotransitreview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}