Has Ricardo Salazar lost the plot, and how does MLS deal with him?

http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2013-03-17-LA-v-CHV/highlights/213999

First of all, it probably wasn't a foul, but he also seems to have mistaken the Chivas player here for someone who was already on a yellow. There's been a lot of talk about Disco, well it seems like the league has to do something for Velasquez, but they'll wish to avoid throwing Salazar totally under the bus.

Salazar is trying to get Chivas out of MLS one man at a time . im ok with that....

MLS doesn't handle the referees, the USSF does (admittedly through the PRO organization which MLS is involved in).

I said this on the PBP thread, but I'll add it here too. The league could do a real service toward better refereeing and toward convincing its supporters it wants to get things right by rescinding the red card. And the USSF could and should follow suit by asking Salazar to sit a week or two to contemplate ways in which he could guarantee not to make such an egregious/game-changing mistake in the future.
Wishful thinking, I suppose.

Let's just say this will be a fine test of the PRO review system.

Really constructive post as usual esco...

Hey i dont judge you ....

FIFA doesn't allow that. It only allows for reassignment of red cards in cases where the red card (rightly or wrongly) was issued to the wrong player.

They ran into it a couple of years ago when a red card was given for a non-existent foul on Benny Feilhaber to a player not involved in the play. MLS initially rescinded the card, then eventually issued it to the KC player that involved in the play.

Thanks for the clarification Andy. It's a complete shame, though. I'm sure you know that.

I believe FIFA doesn't care if the 1-game suspension is applied though. So they can't take the red card off his record, but they can choose not to fine or suspend him.

Seems to me like he got the plot right. Rig it for the Gals.

The league rescinded a red card last year, no? I think it was Cardenas on the Revolution. Ah, I found it:

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...spends-seas-gonzalez-nes-cardenas-wins-appeal

Yah, I don't believe one game suspensions are a requirement. That's what I hope happens at a minimum. My worry is the league won't want to contradict Salazar, and Salazar will never admit he made a mistake.

I don't know that I have anything substantial to contribute other then, while I generally side a lot mor with refs than I think a lot of folks, that was one of the worst calls I've ever seen. And I don't mean the typical "What!?! What a terrible call!" stuff people throw out every week. It was luaghably, absurdly bad.

It was so universe warpingly bad I think I'm a Chivas USA fan now...

He must have thought he stuck his cleats in. But it appears he was wrong. We also don't have the refs view.

Pulling out the yellow first just brings up more questions.

With the Disciplinary Committee last year, MLS implemented an official process for teams to appeal red cards. Here's the link to the details

It may be semantics - the "Red card" itself may not be rescinded, just the fine and additional game suspension - per the link above,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...cinded-red-card-leaves-referees-confused.html

That used to be the case but a new leaf is slowly turning over in England. In Janurary alone, 5 appeals were heard and won throughout the Premier League and Championship. As far as MLS goes, it's been very rare a red card has been overturned. There was one incident last year in which MLS overturned a red card -- I believe to a Revs player.

This is how I feel too ... well except for the CUSA fan stuff.
I almost universally defend referees. A lot of my friends think I am crazy. But all in all I think they do a serviceable job.
This was just a moment of pure indefensible insanity. I don't see how anyone, including the league office, could possibly review this and reach any other conclusion.
The red just has to be overturned. I'll try to write it off as just a bad day or something - some kind of mind-warp that Salazar maybe needs to spend some time addressing to himself or his bosses. But letting Velasquez being suspended would further the tragedy. It just can't stand.

Salazar said after the game that it was supposed to be a straight red and that the yellow was "rescinded" at halftime. First of all, rescinding a card several minutes after the fact is completely improper. Second, lol at that foul being a straight red. 3rd, why the hell did he pull the yellow if he meant to issue red. I'll go ahead and predict Salazar won't be on any games for a while.

Refereeing forum thread: http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...nd-discussion-rs.1981709/page-6#post-27438891

Be careful on the ref board. The notion that officials are human and ******** things up is never received well.

From that video it looks like Clark should have gotten the yellow (or maybe even a red considering he simulated injury after racking Velasquez's ankles.) I think Clark staying on the ground in the fetal postion holding his ankle influenced Salazar to make it red in the heat of the moment.

I can understand how Salazar could get that wrong though considering his angle likely was from the center circle and about 90 degrees from what we see from the video replay. While it is easy so see Clark simulating injury in the replay, that isn't easy to do while on the field in real time.

We don't have Canadian refs in the league?

Can they go back and suspend a player after the fact?






Yep, those are cleat marks on his neck.