While verbal or physical feinting by the kicking team at free kicks or in dynamic play is acceptable, feinting at a penalty kick may be unsporting behavior. Gamesmanship or misconduct Gamesmanship in soccer ranges from entirely within the Law to being quite illegal. Examples of legal gamesmanship are a team constantly kicking the ball out of play or a player constantly placing himself in an offside position so that the referee must stop and restart the game. Players who commit these legal acts cannot be cautioned for unsporting behavior and shown the yellow card. Referees' only response to this legal time wasting is the power under Law 7 to add as much time as necessary to ensure equality.
Some gamesmanship becomes misconduct.
Referees must know the difference between legal feints, gamesmanship and misconduct, and be ready to deal with what should be punished, while not interfering with things that do not truly infringe the Laws. The referee must recognize and differentiate between legal and illegal play, and not interfere with the players' right to use feints or ruses in their game. The team with the ball is allowed more latitude than its opponents and referees must respect that latitude when managing the game. The ball is in play on free kicks and corner kicks as soon as it has been kicked and moves, and on kick-offs and penalty kicks as soon as it is kicked and moves forward. The key is the movement.