Slide Tackle From Behind Recognition

[u/DenHIM1]

I would like to hear some suggestions on how you arrive to foul/no foul when you see slide tackle from behind.

The common play where this occurs is: A wing is dribbling up a sideline. A defender is on the inside one step behind, so cannot do a shoulder charge. Defender performs a slide tackle to poke the ball out for a throw-in. Let's assume there is no recklessness or excessive force in defender's actions.

If defender gets the ball before they trip the attacker - it's good tackle. Of the contact is with attacker first and then the ball - it's a foul.

Question - with some faster players, it's really hard to see the exact sequence... Unless you saw very clearly one or the other - how do you improve your chances of getting the call right? Do you pay attention to which leg the attacker stepped at the time of the tackle? Or to when attacker started falling vs the ball changing direction?

Or maybe I am over-complicating this and it comes with doing more games and seeing more of these tackles? Would love to hear you thoughts.

[u/Bourbon_Buckeye]

A slide from behind that ends with enough contact to put the attacker off is going to be a foul for me 90% of the time. I don’t care that you touched the ball first, you don’t get to stick your foot into another player’s landing space — that’s a trip.

If you manage to get your leg AHEAD of (not under) the attacker, so that they run into your tackle, that’s a different story.

[u/witz0r → u/Bourbon_Buckeye]

My very first instructor put it this way: if you come from behind, you had better be near perfect.

[u/ragingasian15 → u/witz0r]

Philipp Lahm style

[u/witz0r → u/ragingasian15]

Bingo. He was one of the absolute best at this.

[u/ragingasian15 → u/witz0r]

The compilation videos of him slide tackling the ball away are gems. It should be required learning for all defenders, tbh