Worst offside call ever? Linesman disallowes Vertonghen's late goal against Sunderland

Jan Vertonghen’s goal against Sunderland was wrongly ruled offside.

The quality of refereeing this season has been below par in the Premier League, and the recent incident involving Tottenham Hotspur’s Jan Vertonghen just worsens the situation.

Tottenham’s 2-1 win was cut short off a goal after Vertonghen’s goal was disallowed as offside. With the scoreline in favour of Spurs at 2-1, the Belgian defender had found the net after Sunderland were looking for an equaliser, bringing goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon into the opposition’s half during a corner set-piece routine.

The ball was won back by Spurs as they initiated a quick counter-attack with Vertonghen on the break. With an empty net in front of him, he was successful in putting the ball into the net from 45 yards out, but the goal didn’t stand as the assistant referee had it ruled it out for offside.

Vertonghen, who had earlier scored one himself, was behind a Sunderland player and in his own half – which means that there was no way he was offside.

How was this offside? @Jan_Vertonghen's goal should have stood http://t.co/h3eNxtAFvG

— Goals bro (@goaldekho) January 18, 2015

Because the keeper was up, @Jan_Vertonghen was given offside. Still 2-1.

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 17, 2015

Jan Vertonghen was called offside while five yards in his own half pic.twitter.com/hVx8WJjFXo

— Ryan Rosenblatt (@RyanRosenblatt) January 17, 2015

Following the match, Spurs defender Danny Rose spoke to Sky about the incident, stating, “When the game was going on, I couldn’t quite see where Jan was when the ball had been played.”

“But we’ve just looked now in the changing rooms and, I’m not being funny, but it was a shocking decision,” he said. “I thought Jan was offside given how quickly the linesman has put his flag up but, as I said, we’ve seen it in the changing room and Jan was four yards in his own half.”

“I just can’t understand how the linesman can give an offside decision like that,” he added.