[Alberto]

I like Gus St. Silva. He is usually one of the better referees in MLS. Last night Gus had one of the worst performances I have ever seen by a big time referee. So what caused it? Was Gus just having a bad day or are there other forces at work?

Why is Brian Hall a solid referee in the world cup and the qualifiers, yet consistently loses control of MLS matches. How is this possible? Is our domestic league that tough? What are the referees doing wrong or better what is the league doing that leads to these performances. It is not an exaggeration to say that there were some real bad challenges and between the hacking and the condition of the field it is a miracle no one was injured.

What do you think about the following regarding last night's match:

Persistent infringement
Dissent
Time wasting
Careless and/or reckless challenges
Violent conduct
Tactical fouls
Cautions
Send-offs
managing the wall on ceremonial free kicks
respecting the 10 yard distance and encoachment
drop balls

Please discuss.

[SoFla Metro]

Originally posted by Alberto
I like Gus St. Silva. He is usually one of the better referees in MLS. Last night Gus had one of the worst performances I have ever seen by a big time referee. So what caused it? Was Gus just having a bad day or are there other forces at work?

Why is Brian Hall a solid referee in the world cup and the qualifiers, yet consistently loses control of MLS matches. How is this possible? Is our domestic league that tough? What are the referees doing wrong or better what is the league doing that leads to these performances. It is not an exaggeration to say that there were some real bad challenges and between the hacking and the condition of the field it is a miracle no one was injured.

What do you think about the following regarding last night's match:

Persistent infringement
Dissent
Time wasting
Careless and/or reckless challenges
Violent conduct
Tactical fouls
Cautions
Send-offs
managing the wall on ceremonial free kicks
respecting the 10 yard distance and encoachment
drop balls

Please discuss.

There were at least four players on the field last night when the game ended who should have been ejected earlier in the game.

St. Silva lost control of the match the instant he failed to throw out Reyes and Mathis on the encroachment call. He started to go for his card, then remembered they were both on yellows and wimped out. From that point on it was open season.

[billf]

I'm far from an MLS caliber referee and I also think St.Silva generally does a nice job, but I don't know how he could possibly pass his asssessment from last night. The Reyes-Mathis thing sticks out in my mind, and the drop ball in the second half does as well. Did he blow the whistle by accident? I'd never expect an MLS ref to do this for a "double foul" as Jack Edwards put it. The game also got real chippy, and I was surprised someone didn't get hurt or sent off.

Maybe Mr St.Silva just had a bad night, but that won't go down as one of the better performances by a referee this season. The good thing is that I learned some things from this. You couls clearly see how the Reyes-Mathis incident caused him to lose any measure of control he may have had. Players were killing eachother for a while. As referees, we all need to look for that moment in a match and do the think that restores order. Trying to man-manage that situation wasn't the best thing to do in retrospect.

[kevbrunton]

Now I'm wishing I had watched the game.

I went out to watch a friends band play last night after refereeing a game.

See I do have a life outside of soccer .

[paulocesar]

To jugde a referee's performance, I wouldn't look at at the World Cup nor qualifiers. Too often, the majority of refs (and even worse, linesman) make errors that have a direct impact on the game (offsides, fouls, cards, etc).

And if one were to look at other leagues, like the Premiership, you'll realize that most refs are crap when officiating games. Until they're made full time positions, given strict standards and penalities to adhere to, the overall quality will be mediocre to abysmal.

I think the only refs that I thought did a decent job was in La Liga...but they're probably bollucks too!

My guess why the ref last night didn't make more of an impact is the fact that both teams play each other again Sat. Given the playoff implications and high profile players involved (Mathis, Olsen), I think MLS wants the "stars" playing for attendance and game quality matters...IMHO.

Alright...flame this.

[bigredfutbol]

Things were almost at a boil by the time the incident with Reyes and Mathis occured. I agree that he lost control of the match at that point, but I think he may have felt that it was already getting hot out there and red cards would have made it worse.
The wrong decision (I think), but understandable. That was a really, really tense game.

[Viking64]

I have never considered St. Silva a good ref, so his failure to do his job last night was almost expected. I protested his appointment to the Burn vs. Fire game, for all the good it does. At least I got to say "I told you so" after he gifted Hristo a dead ball goal.

Reyes was SO out of the that game it was obscene. Funny that Ty or Jack said "they should paint lines" because if you watch FSW Brazilian league games, they DO put temporary spraypaint down for the wall. End of issue.

Thing is, if Mathis had not kicked the ball into Reyes, but protested to Gus, would have have carded Reyes? Like an idiot, probably not.

I agree that USSF refs get yelled at way too much during games. But at some point you have to agree, sometimes the players have a point.

[Detective40oz]

Reyes was walking the tight rope all night and a couple of times could have receieved a second yellow. Mathis also should have received a second yellow for being in the refs face everytime he turned around. The ref has to puish dissent or it gets worse and worse as he game progresses. Then their was Diallos flopping around ont he ground which should have warranted a yellow...then the getting up immediately after the flop to try and punch Olsen in the face..same thing he did against Hernandez when the metros played the revs..and he received a red for that. That refreeing last night was bad and i remember the same ref having the same problems when he reffed a game at RFK..he doesn't seem to be ready for this league, and unfortunately neither do most of the refs in MLS.

[TOTC]

Originally posted by Alberto
What do you think about the following regarding last night's match:

Persistent infringement
Dissent
Time wasting
Careless and/or reckless challenges
Violent conduct
Tactical fouls
Cautions
Send-offs
managing the wall on ceremonial free kicks
respecting the 10 yard distance and encoachment
drop balls

Please discuss.

Typical NY-DC darby. Fuggedabowtitt.

[schmuckatelli]

Originally posted by paulocesar
Given the playoff implications and high profile players involved (Mathis, Olsen), I think MLS wants the "stars" playing for attendance and game quality matters...IMHO.

Actually, I agree with you, but I believe MLS will achieve just the opposite results in so doing. Under these circustances, you could put Zidane, Rivaldo, Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Figo and whoever-else-you-wish on the pitch and it would turn into a mud-wrestling match because both teams were desperate to get points out of the match, and were willing to do anything to get them. Game quality certainly suffered last night as a result of not stemming the tide of ruthless fouling, recrimination, dissent, etc. that Alberto cited at the start of this thread. You could pick four or five players who did not deserve to finish the match. If Mr. St. Silva was under orders to "let the boys play", then shame on MLS. If not, then shame on him.