A defender (Team A) pulls an attacker’s shirt (Team B) outside the penalty area which interferes with a promising attack. The attacker retains possession of the ball and the referee plays the advantage. Immediately after that, another defender (Team A) commits a careless tackle, makes contact with the attacker inside the penalty area and denies Team B an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO). What is the correct decision?

Question

Accepted Answer

The referee awards a penalty kick. The second defender is cautioned (yellow card) for unsporting behaviour (DOGSO offence within the defender’s penalty area which was a challenge for the ball) but there is no caution (no yellow card) for the first defender as the referee played the advantage.