There were lots of "interesting" refereeing moments in this one. Handled well, on balance, IMHO. I'm sure replay and dissection would show lots of talking points. 1) looked like a PK was given even after playing advantage??? OK, no way to prove that 2) shouldn't the pk have proceeded even with Beckham's interference, guaranteeing a retake if they miss? (Of course, had to be a YC) 3)AR comes into the field to watch a ball go over the flag, to determine corner or throw. good work, just funny 4) and lots more in the way of potential UB But this is the one that got to me. CR makes a controversial call, coach lays into the 4th as if he is going to win the game by deafening the guy. The replay picked this up several different times. How is this part of our game??? It's moronic. He didn't make the decision. He certainly isn't going to change it. He won't even make the next one. So the idea of "getting in the ref's head" just defies logic. By what twisted logic is the 4th supposed to take this abuse? On the field, I understand the idea of managing emotions,...the black art of man management. CRs might take some cr@p for the good of the game. That makes some sense. But on the sideline? With bench personnel? I seriously do not get it. Behave like a gentleman or leave. Maybe 4ths should be able to eject sideline personnel without calling over the CR.
I think, despite the crowd's complaining, the far side AR made several difficult, but correct, offside calls.
Replay on MLS website from above and behind the goal shows that Salazar has put his whistle to his mouth and started running to the spot before a shot ever gets off. So he definitely didn't apply advantage. Now, if the ball had gone in the net, he would have had a tough sell! The AR's call taking away Collin's goal was great. Amazing to get that right in that sort of traffic and with a ball played from that distance. Just an all-around great call.
Salazar had no choice but to stop the play since they were at least two Galaxy players on top of the ball. The look on their faces as they were walking back after realizing the ball was properly placed was priceless. I don't know if it's the games I'm watching, but it seems like there are more cases this year of coaches getting in the faces of the AR's and 4th officials. Guys like Nicol and Nowak say their peace, but know when to stop. With Vermes, it's continuos. Also, I'm not sure why the 4th official isn't shooing Vermes away when all 3 were in a conference prior to issuing a caution with Peter only a few feet away ripping into them. Absolutely. The play was on the far side of the field with a lot of bodies there. Not an easy call. The AR couldn't have been positioned any better. What I noticed was that he was pointing to (what appeared to be) the jumbotron to show the 4th official that the AR had it wrong (which we know wasn't the case). I can't speak for other MLS stadiums, but they do not show replays of offside calls at Red Bulls games as I had assumed it was MLS policy. Apparently, it's not or KC took it upon themselves to show it.
Oh yes. I thought the offside calling back the goal was perfect. I couldn't tell from my TV feed how they took so long to restart, though. I would have thought LA would have just put the ball back in play. It seemed like they waited a full minute for the celebration to end. Anyone have a better view?
They show replays regardless if they are in our favor or not. There's been times where I've been upset with a call until the stadium replay showed it was the right call.
I'm envious. That does not happen in LA. We don't get to see replays of the marginal/difficult referee decisions.
They replay pretty much everything - nearly every foul. I agree that the first LA goal was good. As a Sporting fan, I see the second KC goal (Collin's, called back for offside) as a tie - call should go to the attacker :-\
Has it changed in KC? Because, it seemed like at 2 earlier games I attended, they did NOT show controversial replays. On the OS call that took the ball out of the net, they should have shown that about 5 or 6 times so the fans could see that the call was correct. Because after showing it twice, everyone was booing louder. (Oh, well.)
You really think fans would have accepted that call as correct? It was correct, don't get me wrong. But how many fans actually know the offside law? I think most fans would either think that: A) he was even with the defender, and thus onside--because either torsos or feet are what matter B) worse, that the fact the defender went behind him when the ball was in the air played him onside I admire your optimism, but I think you're greatly over-estimating the knowledge and objectivity of a group of 20,000 partisan soccer fans.
Let me start by saying I think the AR got it right. Master class. But I would have been plenty supportive if he had kept his flag down. It's very easy to say that is "even" to within the mathematical precision humans are capable of. Heck, if the highlight video had the pretty offside line drawn, it probably would have obscured both players!
You are right. I am being overly optimistic regarding the ability of the committed partisan to view objective reality objectively. I see and hear it every game I referee. <shrug> Maybe if they had that Hawk-eye animation like in tennis . . . Appareently Peter Vermes, the KC coach, wants the Offside Law to be changed to allow goals when they are of sufficiently high quality: "To take away a world class goal like that is unacceptable."
Thanks! I was at the far end of the stadium when this happened. The replay was above my head so I could not see it. All I saw was the ball in the back of the net and many upset fans! The replay I saw on mlssoccer showed the header but not the service into the box. From a SKC fan, great call.
Well now you're just being partisan toward Midwesterners! But in all seriousness, in a crowd like that I think that you and other referees are an exception to the rule.
Awesome. And if I were the ref, I would insist on it being used on every close play. The best part about watching tennis on TV is that replay. Very George Jetson. AWESOMER! I support this law change, too! Each coach gets to call for 1 replay per half using the Hawkeye thing. In addition they get one overrule per game. But that can only be used on plays that ESPN has promised to put on sports center. Now we're talking!!!
I can see Sepp Blatter giggling over the revenue/excitement/TV ratings these new laws would generate...bwa-ha-ha-ha!
Only Don Garber could answer this question. It's pathetic MLS puts up with this, and even worse that they get rid of referees that would even think of enforcing the LOTG.