So the 2nd best coach in MLS manages to have the only 3-0 playoff losses, both of them. The 2nd best coach starts a short withdrawn forward as the target man in a 4-5-1 which his team hasn't played all year? I'm sorry but with our very capable FO I would be very interested to pick up some sloppy 2nds for lower EPL upper Championship for a coach. Playing Alex freakin' Caskey over a Honduran National team starter is moronic.
Its a questionable PK given that we didn't get the exact same call last week and unlike ours there was no one in the box. I would disagree with giving it. This worst call ever shit is stupid, what about a straight up dive for a pk? At least this did hit his hand. Not a good ref crew though IMO didn't keep control of the game.
What on earth are you talking about? Eddie Pope was my idol when I was growing up, but I'm not going to pretend he ran around with his arms glued to his sides. In addition to making things up about Eddie Pope, you're wrong about the call. It was S****y.
Seattle really needs to take a hard look at cutting Rosales pay or transferring him. You can't have a DP hurt and miss almost every playoff game two years in a row. Not a good use of a precious slot. Edit: Damn it Earthshaker why did you have to do that?
I thought both handball calls were pretty clear. Last week's, Franklin's, DEFINITELY should have been called as he had plenty of time to move his arm one way or another, and he moved directly into the path of the ball. Unfortunately it wasn't called and not much was made of this either during or after the game, somewhat to my surprise (I mentioned it in the game day thread but nobody picked up on it). Tonight it obviously hit Johanssen's arm and here's what Geiger had to say about it afterwards to the media query about it: "Referee Mark Geiger on Johansson's PK: "The hand was in an unnatural playing position, and he was making himself bigger by taking space." (That's a twitter quote, I don't know how to upload it in and make it look official). So for Geiger the hand was in an unnatural playing position (which is one of the rules), and he made himself bigger by taking space (which is also one of the rules to look out for). I can't say I disagree with him.
EXACTLY. Freakin David Estrada in for Fredy Montero?? Why wasn't Ochoa included in the 18? He is a FAR more dangerous and consistent striker than Estrada. Not starting Mauro Rosales after he warmed up for almost 2 hours? This series was lost because of garbage player management and match management, not because of the refs. Same as last year and arguably the year before that. This is becoming a trend.
Well, you are correct if you want to pervert the original intent of the law. His arms were raised to keep his balance. He was drawing them in naturally after having already succeeded in his natural reaction to maintain his balance and close the distance. Keane kicked a hopeful ball that happened to collide with an arm that was drawing in toward the body after a successful defense of a forlorn attack. Taylor is on crack. That was a horrible call. Alexi may be correct in his opinion that the rule should be "strict liability," but it isn't. As the rule is, the ref called a handball against a successful defender with no intent who was the victim of desperate flail happening to touch his hand. Ridiculous. Not worthy of discussion. Most horrible penalty call ever. Could not be a clearer case of ball to hand, not hand to ball. If you think Frings was innocent in 2002, but I am wrong now, you obviously have some objectivity problems.
I'm not sure I'd throw the baby out with the bathwater. Keep a midfield rotation of Rosales, Zakuani, Martinez, Tiffert, Evans and whoever else, and minimize Rosales' minutes substantially to keep him healthy for the end of the season.
After your blatant use of hyperbole in this thread, you have no right to utter the word "objectivity" nor question anyone else's.
Was at the game and level with the "offside". Horrible call. Even worse in person. I have no idea how the AR missed it. As luck would have it, I was also right where the handball was called, and it was totally legit. Johansson was flailing around like a drowning child. Nobody with a pair of eyes could argue that he wasn't asking for a penalty. Now, the thing that had most of the folks in my section riled was not the big calls. It was all the little niggly, momentum-killing fouls that seemed to go the wrong way. It was Buddle flopping around and getting a whistle every time, while Montero or Johnson would get hacked and play would continue. It was all the elbows in the first half that went unpunished. It was the fact that the ref played advantage when LA was fouled in the build-up, but would call the ball back when Seattle was fouled while in possession, giving LA a chance to reset. That said, I'd like to watch the match again on video, since the stands are hardly the best point of view to second-guess a ref as good as Geiger.
I've been pretty lenient because I know feelings are pretty raw, but at least one of you has a blog on this site that would be a more appropriate place to make the "worst penalty call in history" point for the nth time rather than in this thread.
Hey, at least you can say the officiating played a huge role in the game, San Jose only had themselves to blame for losing to LA.
We had seen this movie before we knew how it ended . Will be interesting to see if we blow up the team as was suggested at the beginning of the year. On the one hand we had a successful campaign that saw us make the USOC final again, lose on penalties, advance in the playoffs for the first time, but drop a stupid 3-0 game in the opening leg because of idiotic coaching decisions. Yes we were playing on very short notice, but we had done so all season and played better bunker ball in the CCL with true backups instead we just play a stupid formation that we don't play. If I had to guess Montero -> Out Rosales -> UnDP'd Tiffert -> Gets a Full Season just to save face Johansson -> Out We will search for fullbacks, and would not be surprised if we make a run at Conor Casey to pair up top with EJ.
I don't disagree with this. LA seemed to get a lot of breathers from the ref. I thought maybe Seattle could have just been coming in harder, knowing that LA would be having such a hard time on the wet turf already.