Sir Bob;326754 said:
the italian guy(panucci i think) was off the field of play so the goal was miles off side, is that the rule you mean?
No, apparently because it was the force of his attempted tackle that carried him off the field, as opposed to going off to be treated or whatever, he was still counted as in play.
Put it this way - if the ball had bobbled around for a bit, and he'd turned around and ran back in front of the goal in time to block a shot, would you have given him a card and Holland a penalty?
Leaving or re-entering the field of play without the referre's consent is a yellow card offence, and the only way he could have been ruled inactive. Compare it to Crespo for Chelsea against Arsenal a few years back. Similar thing, force of a tackle carried him off the pitch. Bent down to do up his shoelace for ages, noticed the keeper ignoring him and putting the ball down, came racing back onto the pitch to challenge for the ball, eventually led to a goal.
I was pissed off then, but apparently it was ok.
The Dutch TV channel showing the match had a top level referee on their panel who explained it was a perfectly legitimate goal. Although he's dutch, so he would say that.
In either case, the new offside rules are bloody stupid.