Wow! Our team hustled and played really well. It's hard enough to beat KC, but especially hard to beat KC and the ref. I can't remember a more poorly officiated game, and we usually have a few rough ones a season. The refs called a KC player for diving during the first half, but other than that, the calls were so lopsided that there were crowd chants of "ref, you suck" throughout the game. From Petke getting tossed, to blatant one-sided calls, to total loss of control of the game, this was reffed so poorly that DisCo should literally go back and fine the ref, in addition to several KC players, particularly the one who chopped down Mulholland away from play near the end of the game. I never get why a team as good as KC feels that they need to dive, have excessive gamesmanship (how much time did the keeper spend on the ground?), and not act like men to beat another team. The image that typifies this behavior is Vermes screaming at the ref after one his forwards was fouled, the player rolling around like he is seizing, winning a free kick, being ushered off the field, and then running (limp-free) past a linesman and a still-screaming Vermes back onto the field of play. When the refs left through the tunnel, they left with a security detail and MLS officials were filming fans that were berating the officials. After Kyle's soft red earlier this week, lack of reversal, and unbelievably poor officiating tonight, is there anyone in the league that feels like their team is treated worse by MLS officials? I expect Petke to light into them after the press conference, accept the fine, but make his point.
From the world of fairness, El Salvador biters and titty-twisters got 6 and 3-match bans. Is DisCo ready to step up their game?
Classic! As expected, Petke has an epic post-game rant. He handed out pictures to the press showing why is so frustrated. He lights into the crappy officiating: #thefreakingprinter 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/bfvQZerJ4G— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) July 23, 2017 Also, there is already a GoFundMe for the anticipated MLS fine.
I thought we were the more dangerous team, the better team. The posts, crossbar, and refs were once again SKC's mvps.... reminded me of a certain game. Once upon a time. We are still struggling with ideas in the attack against a firmly set defense. But. we are better than we were under Cassar. People are making runs. Plata's willingness to make runs has been pleasing, even if Savarino is often too selfish to find him. Sava also makes the runs. Rusnak has the quiet skill of a Javi morales. What can I say? I like where our attack is headed. We need someone to compete with Silva (its not movsisyan). I like what I see from Glad and Acosta.
Question for those watching on TV - for about ten minutes, it seemed that every time Sunny ran by a SKC player, that player would immediately grab his face as if Sunny had hit him. It looked like BS from my seat, but they weren't showing replays of foul calls/non-calls. Was Sunny really a menace? That game had a real Arabe Unido feel to it, except we didn't get 7 extra minutes at the end.
Yes, they showed replays of Sunny's yellow card and yes, it seemed like Arabe Unido was on the field for SKC. Between halves, Vermes must have told his players to turn up the diving and the flopping on the field.
Arabe Unido references never grow old. I wonder if they know their antics are the stuff of legend around these parts...
Man, that rant from Petke was priceless. Gotta love how the disco doesn't suspend a player for grabbing at the throat, but the non contact from KB was much more dangerous. Then you have a KC player cleating Mulholland, and doesn't get sent off. Won't surprise me when the player doesn't get a post game red either. Pictures afterward show the damage from the cleats. Also nice to see Plata trying to run onto the ball, the defender puts an arm around him, and the ref doesn't call anything. In all fairness though, the game should've ended 10 v 10. Sunny really should've seen a second yellow, and cleating Mulholland should've been a straight red. I'm just waiting for the disco to come back and suspend Sunny, also suspend Acosta for one of his tackles, then do nothing about the player that fouled Mulholland. It'd be absolutely typical of the MLS.
From what Dunny said on the pre-game, the DisCo couldn't determine the amount of force Sanchez was applying to throat of an opposing Philly player. But there was obviously more force on KB5's "elbow" tap to warrant a violent conduct red? That was a horribly officiated game. I watched the replay and still felt the ref was lacking. In fact, if you watch the replay. Watch the ref immediately following the game. He meets up with one linesman and they're lining up at midfield, like they always do at the end of games, and Nima Saghafi has a look that I've made countless times in my life - it's the look when I'm thinking to myself that I know I've messed up and wish I could have a few moments back to do over and do differently. Saghafi will hopefully develop into a good ref. But he was out of his depth and was not ready for a game as heated as RSLvSKC.
Should the force even matter? Hands to the throat should be a red no matter what. There's clear intent when you pull something like that. It's just another thing that makes the MLS look bad.
You'd like to think lines drawn are clear, bright & consistent. But they're clearly not & we seem to be on the wrong side of the consistency equation.
Of course I loved the rant by Petke! I have said for years that teams teach players to flop at contact cause 75% of the time a free kick will be given ! Having the pictures was great to compare to KB's slight arm raised shove! Maybe the ref will now think twice about going against RSL so much!
The center official was Nima Saghafi, right? I've never heard of him before but he's on the shit list now, PRO is becoming a bad joke.
In his tv post-game comments Petke said that when he was in New York- a high-profile, large market (interpret: league priority)- NY got every call. I think part of that was the best officials were assigned to their games (and of course the GALs got the same). Some of the worst officiated games I have seen have been RSL/SKC matches. They are always intense and chippy and PRO assigns inexperienced officials who cannot handle the heat.
Its been their style for several seasons and it has been a successful approach. Basically the dare the official to make calls, knowing that some of them will be called. Persistent infringement is another calling card of their's. I'm surprised more teams do not follow their lead tbh. That said, Sunny was an idiot. When he gets in the frame of mind he was in last night he becomes a walking ejection. Its not the first time he has shown that side of his personality.
A couple of observations: 1. The new Silva made some nice plays. On that bad giveaway it looked like he was expecting players to make moves to become targets and it didn't happen, which slowed his reactions. 2. The main reason we didn't get 3 points is that we were bad at finishing our chances. 20 shots, 6 on frame, one goal. Those post shots by Silva were just bad luck.
We should have won, regardless of the garbage of the absolutely miserable officiating. Rusnak, Silva, Savarino, and Plata all had great opportunities that on a night where maybe they haven't played 3 games in 6 days they keep their shots on frame. Melia made a couple really good saves. M. Silva's moment of blunder made me think of all the moments Olave had going through his first couple years, Olave was a red card machine that coughed up so many goddamn goals/opportunities/penalties for the other team it was only a fitting start for M. Silva. Diego Rubio is quite possibly the biggest piece of shit player in the league. Have you ever seen a player play such a shit game and be nothing but a diving ******** while generating NOTHING besides bullshit calls for his team. That guy can ******** right off with his diving antics.
Couldn't agree more. On a team known for chippy players and more dives than an olympic team, he holds a special spot. When the second water break was called, an exasperated old man sitting nearby said, "what does 11 need a break for, he's been laying down the whole game?"
You know a press conference has reached legendary status when it spawns multiple hashtags and T-shirts:
Lets get this out of the way: Mike Petke is a ********ing gem. All those years of "being proud" and "coach talk" from Cassar - I was begging for this kind of honesty. And Petke ********ing delivered. If I was a player, I'd run through a goddamn wall for this man. Man, firework games are always something else. I had a feeling we were in for something weird in this one just given that fact. This is up there with that 4th of July game against Philly awhile back where Borchers got sent off in like the 3rd minute. Just crazy. The gap between SKC and Portland/LA was extremely noticeable. Those teams were bad, chased us, and left holes on defense. This SKC team was organized (in more than one way) and hard to break down. I had to say something positive about them, so there it is. The run from Acosta on our goal was exactly what I've wanted from our outside backs. The desire and strength were impressive, but the vision and touch on that pass were next level. Kudos also to Plata for picking his head up and not just going straight to goal as we've seen in games past. Also Kudos to Silva for busting his ass to get into the picture while Plata got through. Just a really really pretty goal. The goal against us was a long time coming and something this team seriously needs to work on. We simply cannot handle a high press. SKC did their homework (they looked at the stat sheet) and realized we weren't going to win many aerial battles. So every goal kick was met with immediate pressure and daring us to launch the ball (hopelessly) forward. A few times before the sequence of the goal against us, we were bailed out by a missed tackle or a ball just an inch away from being picked off. This one was simply a lack of communication and movement. Silva then goes into the tackle and the rest is history. We deserved to be scored against. Number 6 for SKC, Ilie Sanchez, is an absolute piece of shit. As is number 11. And 7. and 9. And... jesus maybe I should say who isn't a piece of shit on the team. Tim Melia is a good shot blocker. I can see why he is getting the praise he is. Know what will prevent him from ever being a serious contender at the international level? His distribution is utter shit. Any pressure and he launched the ball 10 yards out of bounds. There are far too many GK's in this country that can do the same thing Tim is good at. At the moment, he looks exceptional at shot stopping - he is. But outside that? He's very average. Oh, and his bullshit falling on the floor and just laying there would make Kevin Hartman blush. And if you never had the pleasure of watching Hartman time waste, you got a taste of it with Melia. You know a sign of a poorly officiated game? Peter Vermes praises the ref. I'm not kidding, Vermes praised the ref. He said that he got a call wrong each way, but balaned out. The call Vermes claimed was poor against SKC? When Espinoza tried to jump over Plata and banged him the back of the head with his knee. He thought that wasn't a foul. Seriously, ******** Peter Vermes. I'll be honest, the lack of 3 points in this one falls quite a bit on the coaching staff. Not subbing in anyone beyond Brooks was a bad move. I get that you want our most talented players out there, but after the 75th minute, the front four were all but gassed. We needed more than Brooks. In all the anger I was feeling during the latter part of this game, a smile came across my face. I had this feeling of deja vu. I was proud of this team. I was proud of the style of play. I was proud to call myself a RSL fan. I missed that. I fully expect Sunny to be handed a suspension along with Petke's fine. This league has a god awful review process and we're about to get the worst of it
My thoughts on the game: Before this game started, my prediction to family was that Sunny would not feel as confident in Mulholland as he does in Beckerman and would play more physically, resulting in a second-half ejection. Right before he got subbed off, we were screaming at the TV to hurry up and get him off the field. The general form and style of play has improved so vastly in the last month that it seems like we’re watching a different team. Credit to Petke. The innate DESIRE and hunger for a win is now evident from the players. This was missing for a long time and was the single worst thing about watching RSL. Credit to Petke for bringing that back. To keep that level of passion and fight during the third game of the week is doubly impressive. Credit to Petke. I hate SKC. I hate their coach. I hate their diving. I will never forgive them for MLS Cup 2013. What do you all think of Rusnak as the heir to Javi? The team seems to be gelling and looking more dangerous in the attack, which are all good signs. Where do I start on Petke? I freaking love him. He is exactly what we needed and I hope that DLH does whatever it takes to keep him in Salt Lake City for a very, very long time. I think that one post-game rant will earn RSL thousands and thousands of dollars in fan support, merchandising, season tickets, etc. because it was just that perfect. Freakin’ printer. Props to DLH and Waibel for that hiring choice. If they'd made that choice at the end of last season, I think RSL would be floating near the top of the table. That being said, I'm going to state an unpopular opinion: Waibel has actually done some decent work with some of the signings recently. Rusnak, Lennon, and Savarino have turned out very promising and have good chemistry together. I still disagree with the Yura extension, but Silva is turning out better than we anticipated. There is still work to do. The ref looked completely beleaguered by the end of this game. He was in over his head in such a physical game, he screwed up, you could see that he knew it and just wanted the whole thing to be over. I hope he learns from his mistakes and gives us some generous make-up calls next time we see him.
Nice list, 15. Much better than mine! :-D One other thing I left off: Plata is playing much closer to the Plata of old that I loved. Just recently, it looked like he was a team cancer that needed to be shipped off, but he is now much closer to his old self. Credit to Petke? I'll say this: if Petke can pull out this same turnaround of attitude and performance with Yura, he will be a freaking coaching god.