05/15/19 Toronto FC vs D.C. United BMO Field (8PM ET) REF: Drew Fischer AR1: CJ Morgante AR2: Claudiu Badea 4TH: Luis Guardia VAR: Matt Franz AVAR: Jeff Muschik Houston Dynamo vs Portland Timbers BBVA Compass Stadium (8:30PM ET) REF: Ted Unkel AR1: Brian Poeschel AR2: Gjovalin Bori 4TH: Rosendo Mendoza VAR: Malik Badawi AVAR: Jonathan Johnson Vancouver Whitecaps vs Atlanta United BC Place (10PM ET) REF: Baldomero Toledo AR1: Philippe Briere AR2: Cory Richardson 4TH: Joe Dickerson VAR: Alejandro Mariscal AVAR: Mauricio Navarro Seattle Sounders vs Orlando City CenturyLink Field (10:30PM ET) REF: Dave Gantar AR1: Jeff Hosking AR2: Jeremy Kieso 4TH: Farhad Dadkho VAR: Daniel Radford AVAR: Cameron Blanchard 05/16/19 Los Angeles vs FC Dallas Banc of California Stadium (10PM ET) REF: Allen Chapman AR1: Jeremy Hanson AR2: Michael Kampmeinert 4TH: Alex Chilowicz VAR: Guido Gonzales Jr AVAR: Felisha Mariscal 05/18/19 Montreal Impact vs New England Revolution Saputo Stadium (1PM ET) REF: Ramy Touchan AR1: Gianni Facchini AR2: Logan Brown 4TH: Fotis Bazakos VAR: Jorge Gonzalez AVAR: Robert Schaap Real Salt Lake vs Toronto FC Rio Tinto Stadium (3PM ET) REF: Joe Dickerson AR1: Philippe Briere AR2: Apolinar Mariscal 4TH: Rosendo Mendoza VAR: Allen Chapman AVAR: Jozef Batko San Jose Earthquakes vs Chicago Fire Avaya Stadium (3:30PM ET) REF: Alex Chilowicz AR1: Brian Dunn AR2: Felisha Mariscal 4TH: Alejandro Mariscal VAR: Victor Rivas AVAR: Cameron Blanchard Philadelphia Union vs Seattle Sounders Talen Energy Stadium (7:30PM ET) REF: Marcos DeOliveira AR1: Jose Da Silva AR2: Eric Boria 4TH: Lorant Varga VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero AVAR: Craig Lowry Minnesota United vs Columbus Crew Allianz Field (8PM ET) REF: Dave Gantar AR1: Brian Poeschel AR2: Kyle Longville 4TH: Baldomero Toledo VAR: Malik Badawi AVAR: Thomas Supple Sporting Kansas City vs Vancouver Whitecaps Children’s Mercy Park (8:30PM ET) REF: Tim Ford AR1: Corey Rockwell AR2: Gjovalin Bori 4TH: Michael Radchuk VAR: Sorin Stoica AVAR: Jonathan Johnson Houston Dynamo vs D.C. United BBVA Compass Stadium (8:30PM ET) REF: Rubiel Vazquez AR1: Ian Anderson AR2: Andrew Bigelow 4TH: Elvis Osmanovic VAR: Jon Freemon AVAR: Kevin Klinger 05/19/19 FC Dallas vs Los Angeles FC Toyota Stadium (3PM ET) REF: Christopher Penso AR1: CJ Morgante AR2: Cory Richardson 4TH: David Barrie VAR: Silviu Petrescu AVAR: Jeff Muschik Orlando City vs FC Cincinnati Orlando City Stadium (3PM ET) REF: Nima Saghafi AR1: Eduardo Mariscal AR2: Chris Elliott 4TH: Luis Guardia VAR: Geoff Gamble AVAR: Eric Weisbrod New York Red Bulls vs Atlanta United Red Bull Arena (5PM ET) REF: Robert Sibiga AR1: Matthew Nelson AR2: Claudiu Badea 4TH: Lorant Varga VAR: Edvin Jurisevic AVAR: Peter Manikowski LA Galaxy vs Colorado Rapids Dignity Health Sports Park (8PM ET) REF: Drew Fischer AR1: Frank Anderson AR2: Micheal Barwegen 4TH: Alejandro Mariscal VAR: Chico Grajeda AVAR: Apolinar Mariscal
International obligations keeping four referees away this week. If Kelly stays in Poland through the knockout stages, the second week of June is going to be rough as Gold Cup and WWC officials will both be gone.
Yeah, looks like a lot of referees are busy, and new names (though I'm less up to date with who's who). Unkel back in action, and DeOliveira remains active. Can one assume that they've completed their penance and are free, or are they back in action because of a shortage? Or maybe some of both?
Unkel had a lot of May assignments and one was affected by what happened in DC. De Oliviera is a harder to figure out. He never really regularly got middles before this year. But with expansion and the move to find new referees, he was starting to get slotted in more frequently. Then he got a longer break, which would have been totally in line with assigning practices in past seasons, but looked like a bit of a deliberate move given where things are now. All in all, I think the belief is they need newer/younger blood right now and they don't want to completely sideline him quite yet. But I don't think anyone should arrive at the conclusion that his outings are being highly assessed.
AS @ManiacalClown pointed out on twitter, Kevin Stott is back on the field for the first time this year. Orange County vs Austin Bold Championship Soccer Stadium at OC Great Park (10PM ET) REF: Kevin Stott AR1: Matthew Rodman AR2: Jeffrey Swartzel 4TH: Daniel Radford
He did ref night in Cincinnati last year. Impressive young man. I was wondering if he would get a MLS center this year.
He's been getting 4ths, which I assume puts him on the short list for trial spots, but I wouldn't know where he compares to others in that department. Two VAR assignments this week may indicate that he's being pushed in that direction.
Are those different paths? It seems the majority of the VAR assignments have been going to either up and comers or guys nearing the end of their on-field careers. Part of that is the observation that there seems to have been very few new faces in the middle in the PRO era prior to this year. VAR being a new required slot, along with a limited (and aging) roster of experienced centers, and the increasing number of games due to expansion seem to necessitate some flux in useage of people across those roles. I would think that the want guys on the referee list to be able fill the Referee, 4th, and VAR slots. According to the roster on the web site, the Fourth Official designation has been done away with, and some of the VAR's have gotten MLS middles, for example, the Cincinnati favorite Guido Gonzalez Jr.
I thought they have more flexibility at PRO with trials and bringing newer faces in Bc of the latest CBA.
Remember that there is specific live training required before you can do an MLS VAR. It took awhile for Badawi to get that. It doesn’t mean he’s not on a referee path. It’s just another place for him to plug in. There are a bunch of different types of VARs right now. Some are veteran CRs who can’t pass fitness. Some are veteran CRs who PRO didn’t want on the field any longer. Some are veteran 4ths who either had their chance and lost it or were never going to get their chance. And most are simply active veteran referees who are also skilled at VAR. And then the rest are younger and up-and-coming. Some of that latter group will make it as CRs and some won’t. But I don’t think PRO has firmly put anyone in the “yes” or “no” camp from that younger group yet. If you see a younger or newer referee who is doing FO only and not VAR, that simply means they don’t have the VAR training—it doesn’t mean they’ve skipped ahead of others who are splitting VAR/FO duty.
This may belong more in the VAR thread, but I feel like I always think about that wrong, so I'll put it here. I was at the SEA/ORL game tonight, and we had a lengthy pause for VAR that felt very much like the Serie A clip discussed last week - there was just no way this felt like what people who love watching soccer want from the game. I've gone back to timestamp from YouTube TV: 67:20 Lodeiro (Sounders) potentially makes ball-to-hand contact - Gantar looks to be in position to see this 67:27 Bwana (Sounders) scores (after a few passes) ... Time passes: you can see snippets of this on the TV broadcast - Gantar spends the entire time with one finger to his ear and chatting (with a smile) with the Orlando players. Everyone is very calm on the field but the stadium is getting just louder and louder. It just feels like it is taking _forever_. (By the way, a sub comes on during this time, though Gantar doesn't seems to wave him on or notice? I might have missed that. Also, this game was verrrry low-key - "felt like a friendly" said someone in my row - and so tensions didn't rise like they could in another game.) ~70:54 Gantar makes the VAR signal (it's off screen) 72:18 Gantar returns to the middle and signals for a goal, no complaints from Orlando Did the VAR (Radford) decide to review the play for ~3:30 and then decided to recommend an on-field review? It was clearly not "clear and obvious," either during run of play or the very first replay you saw. Were they talking about it before Gantar went over? The whole thing felt bizarre. If Gantar had seen contact worth calling in real time, ok (the Sounders fan next to me saw it and thought he should call it); but in the stadium - for the fans, Sounders fans or no - it just felt like a non-soccer experience, and so strange to have that pause for something that just didn't seem to merit it.
Strange indeed. From the body language, it felt like there was some kind of technical problem in the booth or something, but I really don't know. Took far too long for something that just wasn't a clear and obvious error. The review sent down in Vancouver for potential VC was strange as well. It was such a low bar for intervention that I suspect the VAR was treating it as a "missed incident" as opposed to a "clear error." That said, even if the referee completely missed what happened, that he came away from the review without even a yellow card should demonstrate how unnecessary the stoppage was.
Have the various public reviews for last week been published yet? I'm curious as to what they may say about the variety of issues in Colorado-Salt Lake
Rough for Michael Kampmeinert to have that goal overturned. Should have kept the flag down. But was Chapman's whistle before the ball was in the net?
That was a good goal but the whistle came before it went in the net (didn't impact the play - Rossi was about to shoot and the defender had slid on past). Then it was overturned on VAR. Are the VAR replays picture only, or sound? Would the ref have been able to hear when his own whistle went vis-a-vis when the shot was taken/the ball crossed the line? The AR erred totally in raising the flag on the attacking play.
VAR replays definitely include sound because the whistle is what stops the game. If the whistle blows before the ball crosses the line, you cannot give the goal, incorrect offside decision or otherwise. I really, really hope the broadcast audio wasn't synced properly because this is a massive mistake otherwise. It's so close I'm thinking that's probably the case, but I certainly don't know for sure.
Amazing how many people think this is just a yellow. 🤯🤯🤯 #MLS https://t.co/BHH5yN6Syd— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) May 17, 2019 I mean, you could give red for this, and I wouldn't be upset about it, but if it's not clear and obvious enough for VAR, which it isn't, it's probably not worth having a meltdown about it on national TV.
Twellman is about building his brand now, his meltdown about the USMNT not making the world cup was huge. He now deals in HOT TAKES.
I'll never forget MLS Cup 2015. There was an obviously missed ball out of touch that led to a Portland goal, and Twellman spent most of the game revising his estimate of just how far out of play the ball had been. He started at two yards and eventually whittled it down to about 2 feet by the end of the game. 3-D modeling showed the actual distance was about 18 inches. It was a bad miss, and rightly needed to be pointed out, but Twellman's hyperbole about it was just otherworldly.