That was what I thought too, I thought he got the yellow for holding onto the ball and wasting time. I disagree with the throwing of the ball. The far end replay clearly showed Najar looking at the ref and frustatingly throwing the ball right at him.
Let's say he did throw the ball at him. What was wrong with it? It was an underhand throw. It was not a strike towards him. It was here is the ball. The referee was too busy making an ass of himself. Why was he chasing down Najar? Najar was stupid for taking the ball and he should have just dropped it. But there is no reason for the referee to make himself the center of attention. It is not what I pay a ticket to see the match.
Sorry, but I disagree. If I had been the ref, I would've shown him red as well. And I don't really get why you keep insisting the ref was "making himself the center of attention" - what's he supposed to do, not make his presence known when a foul occurs?
Even if Najar hadn't been given that first yellow I think the incident with the ball would have earned him a straight red. The first yellow was given for what I would call a professional foul, although it was borderline (hence Najar being pissed). Walking away holding the ball is just asking for trouble; then throwing it in the direction of the official (so much "in the direction" that it hit him) makes the second yellow/red inevitable.
Have you even watched the video you've posted? He's "chasing down" Najar because he's trying to caution him, and Najar is being petulant and walking away (after Marrufo called him over!). What is he supposed to do, show the card to the air in front of him? And he can't throw the ball at the ref! It doesn't matter if it was underhand, overhand, side arm, or rolled, that's worthy of a card, and Najar is lucky it was only a second caution and not a straight sending off. It certainly wasn't a case of "here is the ball".
Here's my heretical position: I think that saying, which I don't blame you for because it's very common and sounds very uncontroversial, is actually, when you inspect it carefully, a crock. If the players are going to try something punkish, then the ref has little choice but to 'make himself the focus of the game' by calling the rules. If he doesn't, the whole thing is going to degenerate. If anything, the way to avoid 'making yourself the focus of the game' is to assert your authority early with some timely calls, before it gets to that point. For what it's worth, I thought at the time that the first yellow was for the primadonna 'walk away.' A ref would be entirely within his rights to consider those two separate yellow-worthy violations.
You have to flash a card when a player throws a ball at the ref. If not the next guy throws the ball even harder. And the next guy even harder. When is the ref supposed to put an end to it? If you card the 3rd guy, the question becomes why didn't you card the first guy? These are stupid yellow cards like when players kick a dead ball into the stands out of anger. Relatively harmless ... but the refs don't like it.
At the stadium I got the feeling the first yellow was for Andy ignoring the ref a walking away with the ball rather than the 'foul'.
Spot on. Najar has this habit when getting called for a foul or shown a card (not throwing the ball, but his body language/walking away and ignoring the ref). Probably just needs to be coached on his reaction. Hopefully he learns from this.
Um, this would have been an ejection in just about any sport. Not just the MLS. Regardless if the ref is Christ himself or the devil.