RSL vs cRapids 4.7.12 6 pm pacific....7 pm that other timezone.

Overall it was a pretty good game especially after the CO decided to start playing for the last 20 minutes or so.

Do you see that handball as intentional? I'm trying really hard not to be a homer on that one and it just doesn't seem intentional to me. It appears to be him trying to move through traffic and his hand catching the ball or the ball catching his hand (however you choose to look at it). Should it have been called? Yes. Is it a "post match fine worthy" foul? No.

On the other hand, a blatant attack on a player who was doing absolutely nothing to provoke it at the time (his retaliation is another thing entirely) seems like something MLS should look in to.

RSL plays a physical game. No one should deny that. We've even had our hair brained moments (kyle's "headbut" from last year). But the TWO attacks on Luis were un-excusable. Things of that nature should be looked at, IMO.

I have no idea why Fabi would be fined or suspended for the handball. If it was intentional or that matter even visible it should have been called by the line judge or the center ref.

Was it a handball? Yup. Should it have been called? Sure, if they even saw it.

Most importantly should it have even been a goal? NO. Not if Pickens keeps playing instead of waiting to be bailed out and it should have been cleared anyway. It fell right in front of a crapid.

Watching the replay I think Fabi had his arm out to fend off the defender as much as he had it out to play the ball. If the Portland player last week doesn't even get a yellow for dribbling in the box Fabi seeing anything for his play would be interesting to say the least.

I thought Gil and Velasquez did a pretty good job not retaliating for some of the abuse they took during the game. Velasquez especially after the elbow early that didn't include the double face grab and histrionics. He was a stud and took a lot of punishment for making a few players look silly.

Nice shot of the Saborio goal.

I think the line to draw is pretty easy. You look for intent to cheat and/or very dangerous. Now what qualifies under those two parameters may be debatable, but Espy's handball was neither.

Your video link is gone now. Hum.

I was able to watch it before it was taken down. If those two get away without suspension after Atiba got a retroactive one I'll be a little shocked. But we all know inconsistency is the only thing consistent, so I'm sure nothing will happen.

Just watched the replay of the Gil, Moor, incident and the funniest part of the replay was the two totally worthless homer's on the colorado feed who both chimed in how it was Gil who initiated the entire incident. Total joke. What set off the play was the foul by Johnson then Gil dribbling the ball in front of Moor who probably felt Gil was showboating at Colorado's expense.
Mullen took a shot, proving he is truly a worthless piece of shit.

Gil did nothing other than juggle the ball. Mullan didnt even attempt to grab the ball before flying off the handle. He's a grade A hack.

Additional scrutiny of this match or others in the future?

Yes we benefited from a non hand ball call on the Espy goal, but scrutiny into the conduct of both teams in this match would result in more discipline and fines being handed out to Colorado than RSL.

After having a long, 1-on-1 conversation with Espy about the play, I am 100% sure it was unintentional. I know that because the first thing he told me is that it was for sure a handball and he can't believe it didn't get called. He has no reason to lie, and the fact that he admitted it was a handball and the goal shouldn't have counted tells me he wasn't lying.

Oh, and if I was a Colorado fan, I'd probably drink a cup of Draino.

Just one cup?

Unless they are releasing a statement separately for Moor, it looks like he got off the hook for that shot to Gil's face:
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/04/10/disciplinary-committee-suspends-joseph-one-game

If he did get off, that's lame. And Mullan's late attempt to trip Gil was just as bad as what Joseph did. He should get suspended too. He's probably lucky Gil is more of a man than Mullan is and didn't make it look that bad by rolling around on the ground for 10 minutes afterwards.

He did have obvious red marks on his legs though...after he rubbed them for a few minutes.

You have to remember that the game that the incident occurred in was last Thursday. The DC may *not* have not reviewed the weekend's games yet.

Personally, I think this whole DC postmatch review is trending to a very bad place (if it isn't there already).

EDIT: Although, I must say, that tackle was horrific and should have garnered a red.

so long as the DC keeps to really bad tackles that were missed and off the ball shit that should get you ejected, I'm fine with it.

I don't think they've taken on anything different this year. So, so far, so good

Watching the Seattle-Colorado game, Kimura just went down on a slight push from Eddie Johnson while waiting for a free kick. Seems to be a trending thing for him to go down on the slightest contact.