Offside tactics

If there are any of you who have read more than couple of postings to this blog, you may have detected a tinge of antipathy towards the Dutch style of play at Euro 2004. They were a little more fluid (but just as tetchy) against the Czechs with Arjen Robben and Clarence Seedorf key factors in their improvement. Yet Dick Advocaat's short-sightedness manifested itself after an hour when he withdrew Robben for the defensive midfielder Bosvelt. The Czechs had already taken off their right back, Grygera, so why take off your left winger? The Czechs no longer needed to defend that flank and the substitute, Smicer, went on to score the winner.
Van Nistelrooy's goal was shambolic. He was about ten yards offside in the middle of the penalty area when the ball was played to an onside Robben on the wing. All he had to do was cross the ball for an unmarked van Nistelrooy to score. If that wasn't in an active area then every team in the world will leave one centre forward on the edge of the six-yard box and simply pass to wingers. It's a crass and ill-conceived rule: there is no benefit to football in making scoring easier.